Oculus CEO Steps Down, Establishes Separate PC And Mobile VR Divisions

Brendan Iribe has announced that he will be stepping down as CEO of Facebook-owned company Oculus. Iribe will still be part of the company, but he will now be leading a new division that will create a high-end virtual reality experience for PCs.

“Looking ahead and thinking about where I’m most passionate, I’ve decided to lead the PC VR group—pushing the state of VR forward with Rift, research and computer vision,” Iribe said in his blog post. “With this new role, I can dive back into engineering and product development. That’s what gets me up every day, inspired to run to work.”

Iribe also said that they won’t be looking for a new CEO for Oculus. Instead, Facebook will simply fill the role with “a new leader to manage the Oculus team.” Iribe also announced that Facebook will be establishing a new mobile VR group which will be led by Jon Thomason, the former vice president of Amazon’s mobile shipping division. Iribe, Thomason and Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer will be working together to find the new leader for the Oculus team.

Iribe said that establishing separate PC and mobile VR groups was a strategy for Oculus to strengthen the development and accelerate the company’s roadmap. John Carmack will continue his role as CTO of Oculus, while Michael Abrash will still be chief science officer of the company. Carmack, who led the development of the Samsung’s Gear VR, will also remain focused on mobile VR.

The blog post didn’t mention anything about Palmer Luckey, Iribe’s partner who cofounded Oculus. Luckey is still with the Facebook-owned company, but there will be more announcements coming soon regarding his future role, a representative told Business Insider.

The shuffle in management and establishing specific VR divisions in Oculus is most likely part of its transition into becoming one with Facebook, as pointed out by Polygon. With the Oculus Touch controllers just recently being released, the announcement may also be hinting at more new VR hardware launching soon.