Reports on Thursday have announced that VR company Oculus co-founder and Rift primary inventor Palmer Luckey will depart from Facebook. Palmer's last day at the Menlo Park office is Friday. According to an official statement:
“Palmer will be dearly missed. Palmer’s legacy extends far beyond Oculus. His inventive spirit helped kickstart the modern VR revolution and helped build an industry. We’re thankful for everything he did for Oculus and VR, and we wish him all the best.”
Facebook representatives declined to offer comments regarding the reason behind Luckey's departure, but several major incidents within the past six months may well be the motivation.
On Sept. 23, 2016, Luckey offered a lengthy apology on Twitter for his donations to Nimble America, a Donald Trump-supporting political organization that trolled Hillary Clinton's campaign. In his apology, Luckey also denied that he wrote several heated posts under the alias "NimbleRichMan."
On Jan. 18, Luckey stood before a Dallas courtroom to defend Oculus against ZeniMax's lawsuit of intellectual property theft. Zuckerberg himself also testified alongside Luckey, as Facebook is involved in the lawsuit by extension of its Oculus acquisition.
Ultimately, the jury tried Luckey had failed to comply with a non-disclosure agreement and ordered Oculus to pay ZeniMax $500 million for copyright infringement and "false designation."
