A few hours ago, Unity Technologies revealed that President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman, and member of the Company's Board of Directors John Riccitiello will step down, effective immediately.
The news comes shortly after the Runtime Fee fiasco. A few weeks ago, Unity announced it would introduce a new fee based on game installations. The development community rebelled, with many threatening to switch engines to Epic's Unreal, and Unity was forced to promise it would amend the new policy.
Eventually, it was decided that the Runtime Fee would be capped at 2.5% of revenue over $1 million, based on user-reported figures. Additionally, it will only apply to games made with the new version of the engine due to be released in 2024.
However, the company faced a massive loss of reputation, which likely led to the change in leadership. Unity is now seeking a permanent CEO; in the meantime, James M. Whitehurst has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer, President, and a member of the Board, while Roelof Botha, Lead Independent Director of the Unity Board, has been appointed Chairman.
Whitehurst said in a statement:
I am honored to join Unity as Interim CEO and President at this important time in its evolution. With the Company’s experienced leadership and passionate employees, I am confident that Unity is well-positioned to continue enhancing its platform, strengthening its community of customers, developers and partners, and focusing on its growth and profitability goals. I look forward to working closely with the Board and our talented global team to execute on our strategy, and I anticipate a seamless transition.
Riccitiello, formerly CEO of Electronic Arts, also shared some thoughts on the news:
It’s been a privilege to lead Unity for nearly a decade and serve our employees, customers, developers and partners, all of whom have been instrumental to the Company’s growth. I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company’s future success.
Unity is set to report its Q3 2023 financial results on Thursday, November 9th.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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