John Carmack is what you might classify as a coding genius. His code powered the first-person revolution at id Software, and now he’s bringing his coding prowess to the world of virtual reality.

Oculus Rift announced today that Carmack has joined the company as its Chief Technology Officer. The id Software co-founder said that he joined the company because he believes in a future where virtual reality is no longer just a gimmick:

“I have fond memories of the development work that led to a lot of great things in modern gaming – the intensity of the first person experience, LAN and internet play, game mods, and so on. Duct taping a strap and hot gluing sensors onto Palmer’s early prototype Rift and writing the code to drive it ranks right up there. Now is a special time. I believe that VR will have a huge impact in the coming years, but everyone working today is a pioneer. The paradigms that everyone will take for granted in the future are being figured out today; probably by people reading this message. It’s certainly not there yet. There is a lot more work to do, and there are problems we don’t even know about that will need to be solved, but I am eager to work on them. It’s going to be awesome!”

The announcement from Oculus Rift makes no mention of Carmack’s role at id Software so fans were obviously concerned that he would be leaving the legendary developer. In a statement to Polygon, Bethesda said that Carmack will continue to work at id Software as well.

Other people probably couldn’t work two full time jobs, but Carmack could easily do it. It doesn’t hurt that Oculus Rift will be opening a new office in Dallas – the same city that id Software is located in. He also doesn’t have to do much at id as he is largely just in charge of coding. He’ll be able to work extensively on the Oculus Rift while providing “technical leadership” on Doom 4.

[Image: Official GDC/flickr]