John Riccitiello, chief executive of Unity Technologies, abruptly resigned on Monday, less than a month after a change in the company’s pricing structure angered thousands of software developers who rely on the video game company’s tools.
Unity, which makes the underlying software that powers video games, has long imposed an annual licensing fee on developers. But in September, the company said it would start charging developers additional money every time someone downloaded one of its video games. That meant developers would pay more as their games increased in popularity. Riccitiello was one of the main advocates of the change.
“It has been a privilege to lead Unity for nearly a decade and serve our employees, customers, developers and partners, all of whom have been instrumental in the company’s growth,” Riccitiello said in a statement. Press release. “I look forward to supporting Unity during this transition and continuing the company’s future success.”
Unity gave no reason for Riccitiello’s departure after nine years with the company. He was also president of the company and chairman of its board of directors. Unity did not respond to a request for comment and Riccitiello could not immediately be reached for comment.
His swift departure underscored the precarious position Riccitiello found himself in after an attempt to fix a corporate balance sheet awash in red ink. But the abrupt change in the company’s financial model angered many programmers who depend on Unity for their own businesses.
When Unity announced its new fee structure in September, developers, including those who create some of the world’s most popular mobile games, such as Among Us and Slay the Spire, criticized the changes. Someone even issued a threat demanding that the company report to federal authorities and evacuate two of its offices. Unity soon reverted some, but not all, of the planned changes.
James whitehurst, a technology industry veteran, will temporarily replace Riccitiello as interim CEO while Unity conducts its search for its next CEO, the company said. Previously, Mr. Whitehurst was a senior executive at IBM and spent years at Red Hat, Delta Air Lines and Boston Consulting Group.
Unity said in its statement that it would maintain the guidance it previously gave for its third-quarter earnings report. The company expects to see continued revenue growth, although it remains unprofitable.
Riccitiello is no stranger to controversy. He spent nearly two decades at video game giant Electronic Arts, including a stint as CEO, and earned a reputation for trying to make money out of games in ways that sometimes frustrated players.
he, once pitched the idea to shareholders that players might be willing to pay a dollar each time they needed to reload their virtual weapons while playing Battlefield, a popular first-person shooter game. In 2013, Riccitiello left EA and apologized for the company’s poor financial performance.
At Unity, which he joined the following year, developers once said Those who didn’t find ways to collect money from players quickly were “idiots,” prompting a wave of condemnation.
Riccitiello led the company to a successful initial public offering in 2020. But Unity’s stock price has fallen since then. The company’s advertising business, which accounts for more than half of its revenue, has been threatened by changes Apple made to its mobile devices that limit the amount of data it can collect from users.
