Slightly less than a month after Unity unveiled a contentious alteration to its fee structure, causing a stir throughout the video game industry, John Riccitiello, the company’s president and CEO, is stepping down from both positions with immediate effect.
Riccitiello, who previously held the same positions at Electronic Arts before joining Unity in 2014, made a concise statement in the company’s press release regarding this leadership change, without acknowledging the significant controversy in the industry.
He stated, “It has been an honor to lead Unity for nearly a decade and to serve our employees, customers, developers, and partners, all of whom have played a pivotal role in the company’s growth. I anticipate supporting Unity during this transition and witnessing the company’s future successes.”
Unity’s statement, on the other hand, did not make any reference to the controversy. Instead, Roelof Botha, the company’s independent director of the board, expressed gratitude to Riccitiello for his leadership in establishing Unity as a pioneer in the developer community.
Officially, Riccitiello will “retire” from his positions as president and CEO and will also step down from the company’s board of directors. This move is likely aimed at distancing Unity from the ongoing scrutiny and potential backlash from developers and industry publishers. Riccitiello will continue to serve in an advisory capacity with Unity to facilitate a smooth transition before his complete departure.
Before this, Riccitiello faced criticism for labeling developers who opted out of monetization options as ‘inadvisable’ and for selling 2,000 shares shortly before this decision was made.
On an interim basis, James Whitehurst, formerly the president of IBM from 2008 to 2020, will step in to replace Riccitiello. Whitehurst expressed confidence in Unity’s ability to continue improving its platform, strengthening its community of customers, developers, and partners, and pursuing its growth and profitability objectives.
Unity has addressed the controversy in other statements, with Marc Whitten, Unity Create leader, publicly apologizing on September 22 and subsequently providing more detailed information about the changes to Unity’s Runtime Fee policy. However, these efforts have been met with skepticism, and Unity still faces significant challenges in rebuilding trust among the developers it has lost over the past month.