Unity CEO John Riccitiello Is Stepping Down Following Controversial Pricing Failure

Unity’s CEO John Riccitiello has stepped down from his role as President, CEO, Chairman and member of board of directors at Unity following the colossal mess that was the attempted runtime fee policy.

John Riccitiello Steps Down

Unity shared in a press release that John Riccitiello will be stepping down from his position at the company to be replaced by James M. Whitehurst as CEO and President and Roelof Botha as Chairman. This news comes following the disaster that was Unity’s Run Time fee policy which has since been revised. If you weren’t aware, this run-time fee policy would have effectively unfairly charged developers for every time their game was installed which is easy to understand why developers weren’t happy. Unity has since changed this plan however the damage is done and many developers will be moving away from Unity for their future projects.

What Riccitiello Had To Say

“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,” Mr. Botha said. “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. I remain excited for the future of Unity.”

“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,” Mr. Riccitiello said. “I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company’s future success.”

James M. Whitehurst

James M. Whitehurst will be taking over as Interim CEO and President who has formerly served as a Senior Advisor and President at IBM.

“I am honored to join Unity as Interim CEO and President at this important time in its evolution,” Mr. Whitehurst said. “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.”

How much of an effect this leadership change will have on Unity’s difficult future is uncertain, but they do have a lot of work to do if they want to repair their reputation and relations with games developers.