Controversial video game executive John Riccitiello is set to retire from Unity, the company behind the popular game engine of the same name, "effective immediately."
In a press release, the company announced that Riccitiello, who held the positions of President and Chief Executive Officer, on top of being Chairman and a member of the Unity's board of directors, will be leaving the company. In his place, James M. Whitehurst has been appointed interim CEO, president and a member of the board, while Roelof Botha, Lead Independent Director of the company's board, has been appointed chairman.
"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," Riccitiello said in a company press release. "I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company's future success."
Riccitiello is set to retire in the wake of Unity's controversial move to implement a pay-per-download pricing scheme. Said scheme, which would see developers pay Unity every time a game was installed, caused massive backlash from developers using the engine. The backlash eventually resulted in the company making significant changes to the plan's pricing thresholds, though still leaning on the pay-per-download structure. (Read: Unity updates controversial "Runtime Fee," walking back some but not all changes)
What Riccitiello's departure means for Unity's plans moving forward is unknown, though interim CEO Whitehurst stated that his predecessor's move to retire was an important time in the company's evolution. He also stated that the transition would be "seamless."
"I am honored to join Unity as Interim CEO and President at this important time in its evolution," Whitehurst stated. "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 has been a controversial figure in the video game industry even before his time at Unity.
During his tenure as CEO of Electronic Arts, Riccitiello pushed for increased monetization of EA's games. The most well-known anecdote is Riccitiello proposing to charge one US dollar for every time a player reloaded their weapon in Battlefield 3 during an investor meeting sometime on or before 2011.
While this was later claimed to be hyperbole on how he could make the most dedicated gamers pay for almost anything in-game, the damage to Riccitiello's reputation was done.
With his departure, some developers are now hoping that Unity can start rebuilding the trust that it lost in the past month.
"I really truly did not think this would happen, but this is the main thing Unity needed to do to start rebuilding trust," stated Brandon Sheffield, game director at indie studio Necrosoft Games. "It's a start."
That said, over at Reddit's r/Unity subreddit, some developers have pointed out that there are still other people in the company who may have been involved in the decision behind the disastrous pay-per-download scheme, and who may initiate similar plans in the future.
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