Unity boss John Riccitiello has stepped down from his position after a wave of backlash against the company’s new pricing scheme for developers. Under this, a new fee would have been incurred for developers each time someone installed a game made with Unity code—this in addition to the tiered licensing fees already in place.
Unity later rolled back those plans in part following a wave of controversy. Riccitiello’s departure from the company was announced on Tuesday.
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.”
Riccitiello also made the news last year when he said in an interview that game developers who didn’t implement monetization early in development were “some of the biggest f…ing idiots.”
As for the Unity brand, it has definitely been tarnished by this latest controversy, perhaps irreparably. No doubt the company hopes that a change in leadership will be the first step toward repairing bridges with the developers who use its game engine.