The parent company of Bethesda, Id and other well known gaming brands agreed to settle its VR-related lawsuit with Facebook on undisclosed terms.
The ZeniMax lawsuit centered on the hiring of John Carmack away from Id and the expertise in VR he took to Oculus and later Facebook. A Texas jury originally found Oculus and its VR executives owed ZeniMax some $500 million — an amount later reduced with Facebook vowing an appeal.
“We’re pleased to put this behind us and continue building the future of VR,” Oculus spokesperson Tera Randall wrote in an email.
It seems unlikely, but we’re curious if the terms of the settlement touched upon any future VR titles from ZeniMax or its subsidiaries. Back when it was on Kickstarter in 2012, Oculus was going to bring a version of Id’s Doom to its VR headsets. That plan never materialized as Carmack, a key creator of the original Doom and the technology which drives 3D games, moved to pursue VR work full-time at Facebook. Bethesda has since brought versions of Skyrim, Doom and Fallout to VR headsets on storefronts other that the one offered by Facebook’s Oculus. While the games still play on an Oculus Rift, they are supported indirectly through Valve’s SteamVR.
“We are pleased that a settlement has been reached and are fully satisfied by the outcome. While we dislike litigation, we will always vigorously defend against any infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property by third parties,” reads a statement from Robert Altman, ZeniMax’s Chairman and CEO.
