Say it with me.
You might remember how last month’s discourse was dominated by the incredible bullshit that was Unity deciding to alter the deal and charge an install fee. And at the center of that was Unity CEO John Riccitiello. Riccitiello was immediately pinged by the public as the likely source of this incredibly terrible idea, and gained an instant hatedom from it.
Well, there’s good news for you: he’s out! According to a news post on the Unity site, John Riccitiello is retiring “as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately”.
In the interim, they’ve appointed James M. Whitehurst as Interim Chief Executive Officer, President and a member of the Board. They’ve also appointed Roelof Botha, Lead Independent Director of the Unity Board, as Chairman. Riccitiello will “continue to advise Unity to ensure a smooth transition”.
The board plans to initiate a process to find a more permanent replacement for Riccitiello.
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. I remain excited for the future of Unity.
Roelof Botha
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.
John Riccitiello
“I am honored to join Unity as Interim CEO and President at this important time in its evolution. 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.
James M. Whitehurst
Whitehurst was previously Senior Advisor and President at IBM after their acquisition of Redhat, a provider of open source enterprise IT products and services. He was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Redhat from 2008 to 2020.
Unity walked back their plans to charge an install fee per install of any software utilizing Unity. That said, it came a bit too late, as the hornet’s nest had already been kicked. This seems to be the fallout of that initial decision over a month ago.
Source: IGN
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