The Beginning
According to the complaint filed by ZeniMax and id Software, the company had researched VR for years, putting forth several millions of dollars by the time John Carmack become Technical Director of id Software. His job was to pinpoint what the problems were with VR, and find ways to fix it.
The complaint stated that Carmack began his interactions with Luckey in April of 2012. Luckey had worked on a “primitive” VR headset that featured a display with a wide field of view. Carmack believed that field of view was the key to the best VR experience and was given a prototype which he worked on with other ZeniMax employees, this opinion can be viewed on page three of the complaint. They gave the prototype new hardware and specialized software, which allowed the headset to run Doom 3: BFG Edition, a game by id Software.
Luckey then signed a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for ZeniMax to tell him what it was exactly they added in to make that template of the Rift work; this was the same model that was shown off at E3 in 2012. Not only did this include disclosing the physical aspects of this early Rift, but also copyrighted computer code. It was that same VR headset that gained traction in the media after the demo, and according to ZeniMax, they wanted to start discussions on how Oculus could compensate for the help they had provided, a discussion that lasted for two years.
In that timeframe, Oculus had launched its Kickstarter and funded the project with millions of dollars. Carmack left id Software to work for Oculus because he couldn’t work on VR at id according to an interview by USA Today. This is also when reports by way of Polygon began to appear, with both companies releasing statements about several matters from canceled demos due to equity demands, and allegations that Carmack and other former id Software workers were providing trade secrets to Oculus.
