He was already crazy rich off id, though. He had his own aerospace company that he funded out of his own pocket for several years. He isn't the kind of guy who really needed another break - I always got the impression he left Zenimax for Occulus because he wanted to get back at the front of the tech revolution train after going in the back seat for a decade.
That's right, Carmack said Armadillo Aerospace would "[...] probably stay in hibernation until there’s another liquidity event where I’m comfortable throwing another million dollars a year into things." ( http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/08/01/carmack-armadillo-... )
