John Carmack Claims Millions of Dollars in ZeniMax Over id Software Acquisition

John Carmack is suing his former employer ZeniMax for allegedly owed $22.5 million from that company. In 2009, Zenimax acquired id Software and it was agreed that Carmack would earn $45 million from it. He would have only gotten half.

ZeniMax put $150 million on the table in 2009 for id Software, the studio that Carmack co-founded and that grew up with shooters like Commander Keen, Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake. The deal would have included an agreement that Carmack would receive $45 million, half of which he converted into ZeniMax stock.

Carmack never received the remaining $22.5 million, according to Dallas News. The pioneer of 3d graphics, now CTO of Oculus, links the non-payment of the amount to ZeniMax’s claims that he has broken certain agreements in his employment contract.

In doing so, he seems to be referring to the allegation of theft of trade secrets. ZeniMax claimed in an earlier lawsuit that when moving to Oculus, John Carmack brought computer code and important knowledge of technology to develop VR glasses. The jury stated in that case that Carmack had taken property but no trade secrets and therefore did not have to pay damages. The outcome of that case was that Oculus has to pay ZeniMax $500 million in damages, including for breaking a nondisclosure agreement.