Facebook’s Oculus VR today announced the promotion of Jason Rubin to Head of Content, and Steve Arnold to Head of Oculus Studios.
Prior to joining the company in 2014 as head of worldwide studios, Rubin was best-known as a co-creator of the popular video game franchises Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot, a co-founder of Naughty Dog studios and one-time president of THQ.
Arnold, who also joined Oculus VR in 2014, previously worked as a senior producer for Electronic Arts. He was credited with leading a redesign of EA’s Origin Store, and integrating Harmonix studios’ business with EA, which served as a distributor of its Rock Band games.
Oculus co-founder and CEO Brendan Trexler Iribe announced the shuffling of the personnel deck in a Facebook post on his personal account this afternoon. There he noted that in his new role, Rubin will oversee the development and publishing of all VR content and experiences, including games, videos, apps, Story Studio, and more.
The news comes during the E3 conference, where the company has been touting its tactile VR technology and games using Oculus Touch for Rift. Oculus Touch allows users a “sense of hand presence” while they are immersed in a virtual reality environment, whether that’s a more passive viewing experience or a game.
The idea is to let people have an authentic experience of picking up and throwing objects within a VR environment, waving to their friends, or clinging to the side of a cliff, for example, using natural hand and finger movements.
