After Palmer Luckey, if anyone was the face of Oculus Rift, it was their CEO Brendan Iribe. However, today, in a statement posted on Oculus’ Blog, Iribe has confirmed that he will be stepping down as CEO of Oculus. That said, he is still planning on staying on within the company, where he will now head two internal groups- one focused on PC VR, and the other, on mobile VR, both of which are identified as key areas of growth for Oculus going forward.
“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. “As we’ve grown, I really missed the deep, day-to-day involvement in building a brand new product on the leading edge of technology.
“You do your best work when you love what you’re working on. If that’s not the case, you need to make a change. 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.”
All of which sounds reasonable enough. As of right now, Iribe has no replacement, but he does note that the company will continue to search for a new person to slot into the CEO role.
UPDATE: According to a statement Oculus issued to us, Iribe and Thomason will work together to find a new Head of Oculus or leader for Oculus; however, the role will not be CEO.