Michael Abrash leaves Valve to join Oculus VR as Chief Scientist

Virtual reality evangelist Michael Abrash announced today that he has left Valve to join up with Oculus VR. According to a company blog post published this morning, Abrash will serve as Oculus Chief Scientist. Abrash, an industry veteran who has spent time working on a variety of projects at places like id, Microsoft, and Valve, has become known in recent years for speaking and blogging about his research into augmented reality and virtual reality experiences. To read Abrash tell it, Facebook's recent acquisition of Oculus VR influenced his decision by rendering virtual reality development a viable career path. "The resources and long-term commitment that Facebook brings gives Oculus the runway it needs to solve the hard problems of VR – and some of them are hard indeed," wrote Abrash. "I now fully expect to spend the rest of my career pushing VR as far ahead as I can." "It's great to be working with John [Carmack] again after all these years," added Abrash. "It feels like it did when I went to id, but on steroids – this time we're working on technology that will change not just computer gaming, but potentially how all of us interact with computers, information, and each other every day." No further details were offered about the details of Abrash's new role. Gamasutra has reached out to Oculus and Valve for further comment on the news.