Gaming software company Unity has taken a beating in the public eye recently. Many game developers and those following on social media were vocally upset after Unity was under fire for trying to set new fees for developers making games with Unity. The backlash was so severe that it caused the company to walk back some of its statements about the policy, mostly due to various game companies being open about using different software to build their games moving forward. Now after the tumultuous reaction to Unity, their CEO is now stepping down.
According to a press release sent out by Unity, CEO John Riccitiello is stepping down from the company after first stepping up to lead it in 2014. The press release states that he will still support the company from afar. “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.”
Within the same press release, Unity president Roelof Botha shared some thoughts about John and his time at Unity. “Working with Unity under John’s leadership has been one of the highlights of my career. John joined the Unity Board in 2013 and stepped in to lead the Company in 2014, at a time when we faced significant challenges… John has led Unity through incredible growth over the last nearly 10 years, helping us transition from a perpetual license to a subscription model, enabling developers to monetize, building other game services to serve our creator community, leading us through an IPO, and positioning us as a pioneer in the developer community. Unity would not be where it is today without the impact of his contributions…”
The rest of the press release goes on to discuss more about the company under John Riccitiello and how much of a positive impact he had. As far as who will be the next one to fill the position of Unity CEO, not a lot is expanded upon in the press release. John Riccitiello’s time at Unity wasn’t without its fair share of controversy, which included questionable statements that were highlighted by a number of outlets at various times. John was infamously known for stating developers were idiots for not thinking about monetization early on in the development process for a game. The statement had a big backlash for a time and led to John apologizing about the whole ordeal. The most recent controversy with Unity’s attempt at redoing their licensing policy received much more blowback from people, which may or may not have factored into John’s decision to step down.
What do you think of John Riccitiello leaving Unity? Who is someone who can be the next CEO of the company and how will it affect game development? Let us know your thoughts about everything in the comment section below.
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