id Software and Doom co-creator settles legal fight with ZeniMax

Doom co-creator John Carmack has been in legal conflict with ZeniMax since early last year, claiming that the publisher owed him $22.5 million for their purchase of id Software in 2009. Although Carmack’s role as Oculus’ CTO is still the centre of a separate ongoing lawsuit, he has stated that his personal legal disputes are finally over.

A legal battle between ZeniMax and Oculus VR has raged on for quite some time, with the publisher alleging that Carmack stole documents and tools developed during his time at id Software and used them inappropriately as he concurrently worked as Oculus’ CTO. Although ZeniMax was initially seeking damages up to $4 billion, it was awarded $500 million in February, 2017, a ruling that has since been appealed and slashed in half earlier this year.

My personal legal disputes are over — Zenimax has fully satisfied their obligations to me from the purchase of Id Software, and we have released all claims against each other. (The appeal for Oculus still goes forward)

— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) October 11, 2018

Following the initial decision, Carmack decided to open a personal lawsuit against ZeniMax, claiming that the publisher still owed him a final payment of $22.5 million for its purchase of id Software, a company he co-founded in 1991. A year-and-a-half later, Carmack has taken to Twitter to state that the disputes have come to an end, as “ZeniMax has fully satisfied their obligations.”

Although Carmack explains that he and ZeniMax have “released all claims against each other,” details of the personal lawsuit remain under wraps. He did, however, emphasise that Oculus intends to whittle down the $250 million ruling by appealing against all of ZeniMax’s remaining claims.

KitGuru Says: That’s one less lengthy lawsuit on the board, however Carmack will still have his work cut out for him if his part in the Oculus case remains open. Hopefully the two companies can come to an agreement in the near future.

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