Adrian Carmack, a co-founder of the firm that created ground-breaking game franchises Doom and Quake, is the new owner of the five-star Heritage Golf & Spa Resort in Killenard, Co Laois.
Mr Carmack was part of a team of game developers and designers at Id Software credited with popularising the first-person shooter genre with a game called Wolfenstein 3D, before later developing even bigger-selling titles.
Mr Carmack was a 41 per cent stakeholder in the company from 1991 until 2005. He worked alongside co-founders Tom Hall, John Carmack (no relation) and John Romero.
Adrian Carmack was reported by the Wall Street Journal in September 2005 to be suing his former company, which he claimed was worth $105 million (€82 million) in 2004.
The case appears to have been later settled. ZeniMax Media acquired Id Software in 2009 for an undisclosed sum.
Built in 2004, the Heritage has 98 bedrooms, luxury wedding, conference and banqueting facilities, and a Seve Ballesteros-designed golf course.
A buyer for the hotel was found at the start of this month after its receiver, Kieran Wallace of KPMG, put it on the market. CBRE's John Hughes said the buyer was an unnamed "US-based investor", who had paid "considerably" more than its €5.5 million guide price.
The Heritage hotel did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Revealed in tweet
However, the identity of Mr Carmack was revealed after Brenda Romero, a game designer, tweeted: "Great to celebrate w/Adrian tonight. He's the new owner of the 5-star Heritage Hotel & Spa in Ireland. Amazing place!"
Ms Romero included a picture of beaming Mr Carmack in the hotel’s lobby alongside her husband, John Romero, a game-designer and fellow co-founder of Id Software.
The husband-and-wife team are in Ireland as part of a Fulbright fellowship to work with Ireland’s game industry and educational institutions.
Doom in its various iterations has been played by tens of millions of people around the world.
It was so popular Microsoft founder Bill Gates appeared as a character in it when launching his company's new operating system, Windows 95.