John Riccitiello has stepped down as the CEO of Unity, a game development tool company, in the aftermath of a controversial pricing adjustment that stirred dissatisfaction among gamers and developers.
The initial plan involved Unity charging studios for each game installation that used the Unity engine, a technology underpinning many modern video games.
Larger developers already paid licensing fees to use Unity in their games.
Subsequently, Unity has backtracked on most of these pricing changes and issued an apology for the turmoil caused.
Unity announced the immediate retirement of Mr. Riccitiello from the company.
Unity’s game engine serves as the foundation for numerous popular video games and is commonly adopted by smaller game development studios.
Some well-known games powered by Unity encompass Pokemon Go, Genshin Impact, and Beat Saber.
Even developers of Among Us and Slay the Spire, reliant on Unity, vehemently criticized the pricing alterations and even contemplated discontinuing the use of Unity technology.
The proposed changes sparked considerable backlash online, with both fans and developers expressing outrage over the additional fees imposed on developers.
Concerns were also raised about how free-to-play games would need to adapt to accommodate these new expenses.
No specific reason was provided for Mr. Riccitiello’s abrupt departure. Unity has appointed James Whitehurst, formerly of IBM, as the interim CEO to succeed him.
In a statement, Mr. Riccitiello expressed gratitude “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.”
Source-BBC
