According to a report by Polygon, Oculus and co-founders Palmer and Iribe Luckey have been ordered to award ZeniMax (the owning publisher of id Software, Arkane Studios, Bethesda, and more) a total sum of $500 million for breaching a non-disclosure agreement and copyright infringement.
While the case is still in development, it is reported that of that $500 million, Oculus as a company will pay $200 million for breaching their NDA, along with another $50 million for the copyright infringement. Founder Palmer Luckey and Oculus are doling out $50 million for false designation, with Iribe Luckey paying $150 million for the same, final count.
Palmer and Iribe Luckey
This is the verdict of a lawsuit filed back in May 2014, however the case is still subject to further development. Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg acquired Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014, and it remains to be seen how this verdict will affect both the daily sale of the Oculus Rift VR headset as well as Facebook’s support of the platform.
The long and complicated relationship between Oculus and ZeniMax goes back quite a way. Polygon has done extensive research and coverage on the subject; click through to their report and explore the links to their other articles if you want to get a better idea of where this lawsuit came from and why the verdict award is so steep.