Skip to main content

Virtual reality pioneer Palmer Luckey departs Facebook in wake of controversies

palmer luckey leaves facebook oculus touch feat
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Palmer Luckey, the 24-year old co-founder of Oculus, will leave Facebook at the end of this week, according to a report from UploadVR.

Facebook issued a statement on Luckey’s departure:

Recommended Videos

“Palmer will be dearly missed. Palmer’s legacy extends far beyond Oculus. His inventive spirit helped kick-start the modern VR revolution and helped build an industry. We’re thankful for everything he did for Oculus and VR, and we wish him all the best.”

Luckey sold Oculus to Facebook three years ago for $3 billion, and stayed on at Facebook to work on core VR technology.

Facebook declined to comment on whether Luckey’s departure was of his own accord, per company policy on personnel moves. Luckey’s exit comes just two months after a high-profile court case between Facebook and Zenimax, which had sued Facebook for intellectual property theft, alleging that John Carmack, Oculus chief technology officer and a former Zenimax employee, used trade secrets owned by Zenimax to help develop the Oculus Rift. Carmack, Luckey, and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg all testified in the proceedings.

Although the jury ruled against Zenimax on the intellectual property theft claim, the jury found that Luckey had violated a nondisclosure agreement in order to build the Rift. Facebook was ordered to pay Zenimax $500 million as a result. Facebook said it will appeal the decision.

Luckey stirred up negative attention in September when The Daily Beast published a story claiming that Luckey was funding a far-right political group bent on smearing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with memes. Luckey released a statement via Facebook in which he said that he donated $10,000 to Nimble America because “they had fresh ideas on how to communicate with young voters through the use of several billboards.” He vowed that he was a supporter of libertarian Gary Johnson, and that he would not donate to the controversial organization again.

Because of the negative attention, Luckey skipped the third annual Oculus Connect conference two weeks later, and kept a low profile until the court proceedings earlier this year.

After Friday, Oculus will be without one of its co-founders, just a year after the Rift hit stores.

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
Best early Black Friday deals under $100: Amazon Echo, TVs, headphones and more
The Amazon Echo Pop on a desk.

Update 11/19/24: Black Friday is still over a week away, but you can already start your shopping with the Black Friday deals under $100 that we've gathered here. There's a possibility that these affordable items get even bigger discounts when the sale officially launches, but we won't blame you if you're already tempted by today's prices.

Black Friday will start on November 29, but if you've already got the itch to shop, check out the early Black Friday deals under $100 that we've gathered here. The offers cover smart home devices, laptops, TVs, kitchen gadgets, and so much more, so if you want to start enjoying discounts without blowing your entire budget for the shopping event, take a look at our favorite bargains below.

Read more
Final Fantasy 14 Mobile will bring the popular MMO to iOS and Android
A Final Fantasy 14 party readying attacks against a giant brown monster.

The wildly popular MMORPG Final Fantasy 14 is coming to mobile thanks to an upcoming port from Tencent.

Final Fantasy 14 Mobile is set to replicate the core experience in a new "mobile-friendly format." Details are scarce right now, but both combat and non-combat features will be replicated for the port, along with visual elements like weather patterns.

Read more
We made our own 2024 Game Awards expansion pack with 5 new categories
Hades 2 key art from its first trailer.

In the lead-up to last year's Game Awards, we noted that the ceremony could use some new categories. We felt that the current list was starting to feel lacking, especially as a shifting game industry has moved more toward remakes, early access launches, and more. We secretly hoped that someone running the show would take those suggestions to heart and adopt them. That didn't happen with this year's nominations, leading to all sorts of discourse about whether a DLC should be considered for Game of the Year and when is the right time to include it.

So we've taken matters into our own hands: welcome to Digital Trends' 2024 Game Awards Expansion Pack!

Read more