Unity, the company behind the game development engine of the same name, has just announced that its chairman, CEO and president John Riccitiello will “retire” effective immediately.
“The Board will initiate a comprehensive search process, with the assistance of a leading executive search firm, to identify a permanent CEO,” the press release reads, adding that James Whitehurst will step in as CEO, President and interim board member. “Mr. Riccitiello will continue to advise Unity to ensure a smooth transition.”
Notably, Unity’s new interim CEO is an outsider: Whitehurst is an advisor at Silver Lake, a private equity firm that owns about 9 percent of Unity.
While the press release doesn’t mention it, this comes amid a massive controversy in the gaming industry after Unity introduced a new pricing model and retroactively changed its Terms of Service, breaking trust with many game developers. in the process.
Many were quick to point out Riccitiello’s history of making controversial statements and decisions around monetization, both at Unity and as CEO of EA, including my colleague Tom Warren:
On September 25, Unity’s Marc Whitten repeatedly apologized for the incident and said he was “committed to ensuring that we continue to work as hard as we can to earn your trust,” but some developers tech/we-dont-trust-them-anymore-how-a-video-game-company-nuked-its-brand?utm_source=onsite&utm_medium=more_tech”>have decided who no longer trust the company.
“I don’t know anyone who will formally retract their statement of ‘I will never use Unity again,’” my colleague Ash Parrish, who has been reporting on this Unity saga since the beginning, tells me. “I think people will continue to use it for onboard projects, but they will increasingly look for outlets for the next ones.”
