content: This is all off the top of my head and may not be entirely accurate, but as I recall it, the original Rift was basically just a head mount for a smartphone screen, with some software to pre-warp the image so it looked right when viewed through fisheye lenses. Carmack saw the potential of the Rift and jumped on board around the time of the kickstarter. At this point, he tried to get Zenimax to invest in Oculus and they said "lol no". Soon afterwards Carmack brought in his old buddy Abrash, who was at Valve at the time. Oculus and Valve then started a joint project at to develop VR tech, using Valve's software and Oculus' hardware, because when Carmack and Abrash want to start a joint project you damn well better pay attention. This continued up to the point where Oculus sold out to Facebook. Oculus then basically took all of the jointly created IP and locked Valve out of their hardware, at which point thusly quoth Valve, "Fuck you too, Oculus." Valve then started looking for another hardware partner, and since Samsung was already in bed with Oculus they ended up giving HTC a big leg up to create the Vive. Now Zenimax has realised that they made a colossal gaffe way back at the start when they turned down Oculus, and they feel like they're owed something because they're knob heads. So they're making some shit up about Carmack stealing their supar sekrit HMD and that they really invented the Rift.