The dark satanic rumour mill claims that the last straw was the cancellation of the company’s next generation “Rift 2” PC-powered virtual reality headset.

The situation highlighted how Iribe and Facebook had fundamentally different views on the future of Oculus and Iribe wasn’t interested in a “race to the bottom” in terms of performance.

Iribe announced his departure in a Facebook post today: “So much has happened since the day we founded Oculus in July 2012. I never could have imagined how much we would accomplish and how far we would come. And now, after six incredible years, I am moving on. I’m deeply proud and grateful for all that we’ve done together. We assembled one of the greatest research and engineering teams in history, delivered the first step of true virtual presence with Oculus Rift and Touch, and inspired an entirely new industry. We started a revolution that will change the world in ways we can’t even envision."

Iribe added that the journey has just begun and every part of VR and AR needs to improve, especially the hardware and core technology.

“While we are still far from delivering the magical smart glasses we all dream about, now they are nearly within our reach.”

Iribe said that working alongside so many talented people at Oculus and Facebook was the most transformative experience of his career.

“The success of Oculus was only possible because of such an extraordinary team effort. I’d like to thank everyone that’s been a part of this amazing journey, especially Mark for believing in this team and the future of VR and AR.”

He said that he would be taking the “first real break I’ve taken in over 20 years”.

Facebook’s executive leadership have centred on all-in-one headsets that don’t require a connection to an external PC or phone.

In May, Oculus released the $199 Oculus Go headset and plans to release the $399 Oculus Quest headset sometime next spring.

A Facebook spokesperson still claims that PC VR is part of the company’s future product roadmap and that much of what Iribe’s team has been working on will be manifested in future products.
Iribe came onto Facebook after the $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR in 2014 where he had been the company’s founding CEO. In late 2016, Iribe was moved from the CEO position to the head of the company’s PC VR division.