Have you ever played Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein 3D, or Commander Keen? These are the creations of John Carmack, the guru of gaming and virtual reality. Continue reading to find out John Carmack net worth, early life, career details, etc.
A force to be reckoned with in-game development, John Carmack is an award-winning programmer and the co-founder of id Software, the firm that published the ground-breaking game Doom.
Carmack is also known for his significant contributions to Oculus VR, the VR headset body that Facebook acquired shortly after joining. But how did this influential video game developer go from playing games on arcades to becoming a highly successful game industry legend? Read on.
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John Carmack Net Worth
The current net worth of John Carmack is estimated to be $50 million. His creations and innovations are the main contributors to his accumulated wealth.
Shortly after his career began in the early 90s, Carmack was immediately recognized as a promising game designer and a pioneer for his innovation that brought player experience to a whole new level.
By the end of the 20th century, his annual income had reached $500k. At the beginning of the new century, he revived his childhood interest in rocketry and joined the Armadillo airspace to compete in various competitions by NASA. Each contest won him over $500k, which further added to his wealth.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s read more about John Carmack to discover how he became such an affluent personality.
John Carmack’s Short Bio
John Carmack’s full name is John D. Carmack II. He was born on 21st August 1970 in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, United States. His father, Stan Carmack, was a local TV news channel. The 51-year-old Carmack has been married to Katherine Anna Kang since 2000.
The couple is parents to Christopher Ryan Carmack.
Early Life
Born in Rockland Park, Kansas, John Carmack spent his early years in Shawnee Mission and went to the Shawnee Mission East High School in Kansas City. It seems as if he was always destined for a career in computer programming.
John Carmack discovered his interest in computers at a young age, but computers were not readily available. When he was eight years old, he had the chance to play Space Invaders at the arcade during his summer break, and that first encounter was enough to make him a convert.
A few years later, John discovered Pacman, and his curiosity about games grew even more with time. He was unlike the typical for his age. Instead of getting into sports or fawning over a music celebrity as a role model, John was inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario.
His obsession with computers and games grew obsessively. At 14, he was arrested and sent to a juvenile facility for a year. He tried to break into his school and steal the Apple II computers.
When John was at the University of Missouri, he left the program after only two semesters to pursue a career as a freelance programmer.
Personal Life
John Carmack’s personal life is just as inspiring and glamorous as his professional life.
He is an active philanthropist, a keen advocate of open-source software, a Ferrari hobbyist, and a passionate aerospace buff. He is a pizza lover who has probably eaten pizza more than any other food item in his life.
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John Carmack – Career & Achievements
John Carmack landed his first job at a computer company called Softdisk in Louisiana. He worked on Softdisk G-S, a computer publication company where he met Adrian Carmack, no relation, and John Romero, who would be his future id Software collaborators.
Creation of id Software
In 1990, the twenty-year-old Carmack started working with his team on the game “Commander Keen.” A year later, he quit his job at Softdisk to establish his own company. He joined hands with Adrian Carmack, Tom Hall, and John Romero to establish id Software.
During that time, he formulated various computer graphics techniques. He developed the application of adaptive tile refresh in his first game Commander Keen. It is a technique applied to side-scrolling video games and developed to make up for the poor quality of PC graphics.
Another major innovation was the application of ray casting for 3D games. The popular game Doom was the first game that used binary space partitioning.
John Carmack continued to develop graphic technologies and programs for games by id Software, for instance, Megatexture and Carmack’s reverse. These programs led John Carmack and his team to develop many popular games that raked in considerable profits for the company.
He was involved in famous desktop games like Wolfenstein, Rage, Doom, etc.
Other developers also licensed John Carmack’s programs for creating games that dominate the gaming world. Adding to John’s already impressive list are Medal of Honor and Call of Duty.
John Carmack’s Career at Oculus VR
After 22 years, Carmack bid goodbye to id Software and joined Oculus VR as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Unfortunately, his separation from his original company ended on a messy note.
In 2017, Carmack got into a legal battle with ZeniMax, the parent company of id Software. The lawsuit was to recover $22.5 million, which the company owed him for the id Software license.
John Carmack’s Career as a Consultant
2018 saw the resolution of the lawsuit with ZeniMax. Sometime after that, Carmack left Oculus VR and assumed a consulting CTO role at Oculus. He seemingly wanted to put his creative cap back on and focus on his new venture AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).
John Carmack’s Achievements
Without a doubt, the work of John Carmack has significantly shaped the video gaming landscape and touched millions of lives. Among many of his achievements and accolades, he is the recipient of the BAFTA Fellowship award and a Lifetime Achievement by the Game Developers Conference.
He also received an Honorary Doctorate from the college from which he dropped out. He was also presented with two Emmy awards for the Broadcast TV technology he developed.
John Carmack Net Worth – Frequently Asked Questions
How Much is John Carmack Net Worth
John Carmack net worth is estimated at $50 million.
What Does John Carmack Do Now?
John Carmack is working as a consultant CTO for Oculus VR and focusing on his new venture, Artificial General Intelligence.
Why Did John Carmack Leave id Software?
John Carmack left id Software to join Oculus VR as the CTO.
Did John Carmack Work on Doom 2016?
John Carmack was not directly involved in the making of Doom 2016. He did work on the initial snap map before he quit id Software and joined Oculus.
John Carmack Net Worth – Final Thoughts
Highly respected in his field, John Carmack is known for his out-of-the-box thinking and pioneering creations. He is best known for the three-dimensional game design that led to “Doom,” arguably the most influential first-person shooter game.
By developing such wildly popular video games, Carmack has earned a solid place in the gaming industry and pop culture history. A welcome result of his fame is the considerable John Carmack net worth that runs in the millions.
His take on his success: “If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you need…the dedication to go through with it.” And so he did. So can you!
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Fascinating to see John Carmack’s net worth included in this list! As a long-time fan of his work in the gaming industry, it’s impressive to see him recognized as one of the top innovators of the world. His contributions to the field of computer science and his impact on the gaming industry are truly groundbreaking. Keep up the great work, John!
Incredible to see John Carmack recognized among the top innovators! His contributions to gaming and technology are truly monumental. It’ll be interesting to see how his net worth evolves alongside his ongoing projects and innovations in the tech industry.