Shocking news, Palmer Luckey is leaving Facebook. As we know, Palmer is Oculus’ co-founder, who helped kickstart the recent VR craze with a prototype headset built in his own garage.
It seems that Palmer Luckey has decided to leave the company after a year that was filled with the launch of the consumer Oculus Rift headset.
Moreover, during this year, Palmer Luckey also had a high number of lawsuits and a pro-Trump meme scandal. It seems that the company also confirmed these rumors, saying that Luckey’s departure is real.
UploadVR was the first to release the news that Palmer Luckey is leaving Facebook.
Palmer will be dearly missed,” the company declared. “Palmer’s legacy extends far beyond Oculus.
His inventive spirit helped kickstart the modern VR revolution and build an industry. We’re thankful for everything he did for Oculus and VR, and we wish him all the best.
Facebook was also asked if Palmer Luckey’s departure is voluntary, but the company’s representatives declined to comment.
Facebook cited a policy of not discussing internal personnel matters. However, even if his leaving is very surprising, let’s see what happened before Luckey left. So, last September,
The Daily Beast published an article saying that Palmer Luckey secretly funded a conservative group, known as Nimble America, which created viral, anti-Hillary Clinton memes.
Nimble America declared in those memes’ descriptions that the posting is powerful and meme magic is real. Palmer declared that the company’s work was “something that no campaign is going to run.”
However, Palmer Luckey has a net worth of about of about 720 million dollars according to Forbes. Palmer Luckey also acknowledged his involvement with Nimble America and said that he also has a Reddit account that operates under the nickname of “NimbleRichMan.”
This nickname also shows up on the Nimble America website, which describes Luckey as vice president. “I’ve got plenty of money. Money is not my issue,” has declared Palmer Luckey for The Daily Beast. “I thought it sounded like a real jolly good time.”
Moreover, even if Luckey initially denied funding Nimble America, he ultimately posted a statement on the social media apologizing in the midst of an upheaval that had many developers threatening to leave the platform.
His last posting on Facebook was a mixture of defense and regret, saying that: “I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners.
The recent news stories about me do not accurately represent my views… my actions were my own and do not represent Oculus. I’m sorry for the impact my actions are having on the community.”
In the end, we also must mention that in January, Mark Zuckerberg hired Xiaomi executive Hugo Barra. He is now leading all of Facebook’s virtual reality efforts. Mark Zuckerberg declared that with Hugo Barra’s hiring he wanted to give the Oculus project some adult supervision.
It seems that things are not so bright with the Oculus Rift, because its sales failed to meet expectations. When Mark Zuckerberg was asked about the company’s VR and augmented-reality efforts, he said that “we are a little behind from where we wanted to be.”
