Oculus Rift nabs former EA senior vice-president

Former Origin boss and EA senior vice president David DeMartini has signed on with Oculus Rift as head of worldwide publishing.

DeMartini, who led EA Partners before stepping up as global SVP of e-commerce, left EA in October. He is the first hire for Oculus Rift's new publishing initiative.

Speaking with Gamasutra, DeMartini said his new job isn't that different from his old one.

“I’m figuring out how to partner effectively with big developers, small developers, all the way down to the individual who just wants to make something great for the Rift," he said.

DeMartini's role may eventually expand beyond outreach and tech support to providing financial backing, but at present he;s focused on ensuring a steady flow of Oculus Rift-compatible software.

The executive will travel the world to meet with developers as well as making himself readily available online, and is also interested in non-gaming uses for the software.

Oculus Rift is attracting some big industry names now; id Software founder John Carmack jumped ship for the VR tech firm. The crowd-funded headset has believers everywhere, it seems, as it managed to pull an additional $75 million in funding recently.

Thanks, MCV.