The co-founder and former CEO of Oculus, Brendan Iribe announced yesterday on his Facebook page that he’s leaving Facebook. This is the second high profile exit from Facebook within a span of a month, as Kevin Systrom, CEO, Instagram, Mike Kriege, CTO, Instagram also resigned from Facebook on 24th September.
“So much has happened since the day we founded Oculus in July 2012. I never could have imagined how much we would accomplish and how far we would come. And now, after six incredible years, I am moving on”, mentioned Iribe.
It was back in March 2014 when Facebook had acquired Oculus VR for $3 billion. “I’m deeply proud and grateful for all that we’ve done together. We assembled one of the greatest research and engineering teams in history, delivered the first step of true virtual presence with Oculus Rift and Touch, and inspired an entirely new industry. We started a revolution that will change the world in ways we can’t even envision”, writes Iribe.
Another Oculus co-founder, Palmer Luckey, left Facebook in 2017. Luckey who had not mentioned anything regarding his departure from Facebook last year mentioned that “there’s a lot of people at Facebook who have been leaving that were very happy to work at Facebook in 2012 that don’t want to work at Facebook in 2018. I can’t talk about it too much, but I’ll say that it wasn’t my choice to leave,” earlier this month to CNBC.
Iribe talked about how the VR and AR industry needs to improve more, specifically the hardware and core technology. Iribe believes that Oculus is the best team in the world to enhance the AR/VR experience for everyone. He also mentioned how this is his first “real” break in over 20 years and how it’s time for him to recharge, reflect and be creative.
Iribe also posted on twitter regarding his decision to leave:
What a ride! We made science fiction into reality and inspired a new industry in the process. Oculus was only possible because of such an extraordinary team and community. Thank you! Now, six years after we launched Oculus and Rift, I'm moving on to the next chapter!
— Brendan Iribe (@brendaniribe) October 22, 2018
A report from Techcrunch indicates that Iribe’s decision to leave wasn’t entirely harmonious. It could be an outcome of Facebook canceling the company’s next-generation “Rift 2” PC-powered virtual reality headset. However, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, VP, AR/VR at Facebook denied the TechCrunch report as he tweeted:
#accurate https://t.co/JHUDD0DyBA
— Boz (@boztank) October 22, 2018
Bosworth also bid goodbye to Brendan on Twitter saying, “You built an incredible team and you defined the first generation of VR. Thank you for entrusting us with this work, Brendan”.
Also, Nate Mitchell, co-founder & Head of Rift at Oculus, tweeted out regarding the future of Rift:
A lot of questions today about the future of Rift — we're still driving forward on the Rift/PC platform with new hardware, software, and content.
Lots of great stuff in the works. More to share in the months ahead.
— Nate Mitchell (@natemitchell) October 22, 2018
“Working alongside so many talented people at Oculus and Facebook has been the most transformative experience of my career. The success of Oculus was only possible because of such an extraordinary team effort. I’d like to sincerely thank everyone that’s been a part of this amazing journey, especially Mark for believing in this team and the future of VR and AR”, mentions Iribe.
Read Next
Oculus Connect 5 2018: Day 1 highlights include Oculus Quest, Vader Immortal and more!