Valve Developer, Aaron Nicholls, Leaves For Oculus Dev Team

Valve developer Aaron Nicholls has announced via Twitter that he is leaving Valve to join the Oculus development team.

It's been exciting working on VR at #valve; can't wait to continue working on the future with Atman, Michael, and the #oculus crew tomorrow.

— Aaron Nicholls (@AaronHelloWorld) March 31, 2014

Prior to his time with Valve, Nicholls was a manager and coder for several high profile titles, including Gears of War, Halo 3, and Jade Empire. When he joined Valve, he was known for his gameplay, design, and system work.

The move from Valve to the Oculus team mirrors his fellow developer Michael Abrash, who also left for the VR outfit in March.

Abrash detailed his move via an Oculus blog, stating, “I’m tremendously excited to join Oculus, and when I think back, it’s astonishing how unlikely the path to this moment is. I now fully expect to spend the rest of my career pushing VR as far ahead as I can”.

Facebook recently announced acquisition of the Oculus team for $2 billion, prompting both new excitement and fears concerning Facebook integration. Minecraft developer Notch tweeted that he found Facebook “creepy”, and that he would not be developing a Oculus version of the immensely popular game with Facebook on board.

Others were much more positive – John Carmack, famed creator of Doom and Quake, lauded the acquisition, stating “the Big Picture as I see it, and will be a powerful force towards making it happen.”

[Photo Credit: Oculus Promotional Materials]

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