Unity has announced the departure of its CEO John Riccitiello, just weeks after the company became mired in controversy following hugely unpopular changes to its engine pricing model.
At the end of last month, Unity announced sweeping changes to its Unity Engine business model that would force developers to pay an additional monthly Unity Runtime Fee every time their game was installed, on top of their existing licence subscription, after reaching certain revenue and life-time instalment thresholds. The backlash from the development community was immediate and intense, and Unity eventually announced significant changes to its initial plans - but by that point, the damage was done.
And now Unity has announced that John Riccitiello, the CEO who oversaw its reputationally devastating pricing changes, "will retire" from all his roles at the company - president, chief executive officer, chairman, and a member of its board of directors - effective immediately.