Unity has confirmed that John Riccitiello is stepping down from his position as president, CEO, chairman, and member of the board of directors. This move is effective immediately and follows a tumultuous few weeks for the company.
Unity announced that James M. Whitehurst will take over as CEO, president, and board member in the interim while a search for a permanent replacement is underway. Roelof Botha, lead independent director of the Unity Board, is stepping into the role of chairman. Riccitiello will continue to advise Unity during its transition phase.
Riccitiello’s sudden departure comes after the company announced a series of troublesome changes for developers. Unity is the leading platform for real-time 3D content creation. In September, the company announced its new Unity Runtime Fee. This policy change sees developers needing to pay the company once revenue and lifetime installs reach a threshold. Under the changes, Unity Personal and Unity Pro users have to pay if they hit $200,000 USD (around 271,830 CAD) in revenue a year and 200,000 lifetime installs. On average, Unity users will have to pay 20 cents per install.
Of course, many developers are unhappy with the decision, including Cult of the Lamb‘s Massive Monster. In a public statement, the developer swore to pull the game on January 1st, 2024, when the policy went into effect. Riccitiello has also been reportedly undergoing some shady practices as well. Guru Focus reports Riccitiello sold 2,000 Unity shares on September 6th, a week prior to the Unity Runtime Fee announcement. A reported 50,610 have been sold by Riccitiello this year.
Unity is reaffirming its previous guidance for its fiscal third-quarter financial results. These will be reported on November 9th.
Image credit: Unity
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
