Games industry icon John Carmack has resigned from his position at id Software, the company he co-founded in 1991 and where he is credited with having created some of the most influential software in the business over the years with his work on the likes of the Doom and Quake games.

The news comes not long after he was announced as the new Chief Technology Officer at virtual reality startup Oculus, which became the foundation of a new Dallas, Texas, office for that company. According to a brief acknowledgementon Twitter Carmack indicates that he had "wanted to remain a technical adviser for Id, but it just didn't work out".

GI International reports on an official statement from id Software Creative Director Tim Willits, regarding Johns departure:

"John Carmack, who has become interested in focusing on things other than game development at id, has resigned from the studio," Willits said. "John's work on id Tech 5 and the technology for the current development work at id is complete, and his departure will not affect any current projects. We are fortunate to have a brilliant group of programmers at id who worked with John and will carry on id's tradition of making great games with cutting-edge technology. As colleagues of John for many years, we wish him well."

Since the company's 2009 acquisition by Zenimax Media, id Software has seen almost its entire old guard having moved on; with former CEO Todd Hollenshead having also stepped out earlier this year, Willits remains one of the only remaining staff from the Doom era.

id Software is known only to be working on Doom 4, which was announced prematurely all the way back in 2008 and has reportedly undergone at least one major restart since then.

Carmack has expressed a desire to continue his popular and highly technical keynote presentations at the annual QuakeCon festival, explaining that "If they don't want me to talk on stage at Quakecon next year, we'll just have to fill up the lobby like the old days"