Palmer Luckey, one of the biggest forces behind the Oculus Rift headset and co-founder of the Facebook-owned Oculus, is leaving the company, according to a report from UploadVR. "Palmer will be dearly missed," Facebook said in the statement. "Palmer's legacy extends far beyond Oculus. His inventive spirit helped kickstart the modern VR revolution and helped build an industry. We're thankful for everything he did for Oculus and VR and wish him the best."
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign for the original Oculus Rift, Oculus was purchased by Facebook for a massive $2 billion. Since then, Luckey has been at the center of more than one headline-making controversy. During last year's presidential race, it came out that Luckey had contributed $10,000 to an internet group with the goal of spreading controversial memes in support of Donald Trump. A lawsuit levied against Oculus by publisher ZeniMax recently ended up with a judgment against him for $50 million.
While Luckey was the closest thing the growing VR industry had to a human face, his two most recent public appearances have been to apologize for his contribution and to testify in the legal proceedings between ZeniMax and Oculus—not a good look. Facebook wouldn't specifiy whether or not Luckey left voluntarily.