UPDATE: We’ve received an official statement from Oculus VR on the hiring of Matt Hooper: ““We are thrilled to have Matt Hooper join the Oculus VR team as our Director of Development. Hooper will be working out of the Dallas, TX office. He’s a top talent who had been out of id for a few months and ended up being a great fit for the Oculus team. We’re looking for more all-stars!”
Original Story
John Carmack wasn’t the only
id Software employee – current or former – to join the ranks at Oculus VR this week.
Matt Hooper, the decade-long veteran of id Software who served as Creative Director on 2011′s Rage, has
an updated LinkedIn profile. After officially parting ways with id and Bethesda roughly six months ago, Hooper is now the Director of Development in Oculus VR’s new Dallas office.
After RAGE’s lukewarm reception from critics (despite the
80ish Metacritic score) as well as the public, it’s been widely believed, but not confirmed, that Hooper fell on the sword and left the studio. While id Software has been rather open and amicable about Todd Hollenshead’s recent departure, the studio, and it’s publisher, have been comparatively tight-lipped about Matt Hooper. When I brought up Hooper with Tim Willits during our
QuakeCon interview, his response was a short, curt, and simple “No. That one I can definitely say I cannot comment on.”
Before his positions at Oculus and id Software, Hooper was a designer at Ion Storm.
Earlier this week,
John Carmack joined Oculus VR as their new Chief Technology Officer, and he will also be working out of the new Oculus Dallas offices.
We’ve reached out to Oculus VR for comment, and will update this story as more information comes in. And look for the rest of Game Front’s interview with Tim Willits later this week.