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Palmer Luckey, the controversial co-founder of the now Facebook owned virtual reality firm Oculus VR, is leaving the company.
Luckey, who was behind the first Oculus Rift headset which sparked the rise of modern VR, had vanished from public view in recent months, and now Facebook has confirmed that Luckey is leaving the company.
“Palmer will be dearly missed,” the social network told website UploadVR.
“Palmer’s legacy extends far beyond Oculus. His inventive spirit helped kickstart the modern VR revolution and helped build an industry.”
Almost exactly a year ago Luckey was hand-delivering the first Oculus Rift unit sold to consumers as his company, which began life as a crowd-funded start-up before being bought by Facebook for two billion dollars, came of age.
However, controversy soon hit the company as Luckey was forced to apologise in September after admitting he had invested in a pro-Donald Trump internet company that openly sought to spread fake news and memes in the run-up to the US presidential election.
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) September 24, 2016
Luckey’s apology remains the last tweet he posted, on September 24, with the Oculus co-founder having been rarely seen in public since.
His only notable appearance was also in less than comfortable circumstances, as he appeared in court to testify in a lawsuit against Oculus by gaming company ZeniMax, who subsequently won 50 million dollars in the judgement.
It was maintained that Luckey was still active within Oculus during this time, though his name was noticeably absent from an official blog post announcing a restructuring of the company back in December.
Now the man who was the face of virtual reality as it burst on to the scene in 2016 – remember that famous meme-worthy Time Magazine cover – is no longer at the centre of the industry he helped to create and shape.
