Unity’s CEO John Riccitiello retires after Runtime Fee controversy

Unity CEO John Riccitiello has retired — effective immediately, as of Monday — as president, chief executive officer, chairman, and member of the company’s board of directors, according to a news release from the game engine developer. The move comes weeks after the disastrous announcement of Unity’s new “Runtime Fee” pricing model attracted widespread condemnation across the game development community, and necessitated a swift climbdown from the company.

James M. Whitehurst will be the interim CEO until a permanent replacement can be found. Whitehurst is an advisor with Silver Lake Equity Investments, whose firm owns about 9% of Unity. “I am honored to join Unity as interim CEO and president at this important time in its evolution,” Whitehurst said in Unity’s news release. This release did not make any mention of recent controversy over the changes made to Unity’s pricing model or Terms of Service.

On Sep. 12, Unity announced that it would be moving from its existing revenue sharing model for developers using its engine — which include many small independent developers, as well as the makers of games like Pokémon Go You can also find out more about the following: Hearthstone — to a “Unity Runtime Fee,” which would charge developers for every time a game is installed on a device. This announcement was nearly universally criticized by video game developers.

Following a boycott from mobile game developers, and the closure of several offices due to a “credible death threat,” Unity promised further changes. The company announced on September 22 a plan that included multiple changes. For example, the Runtime Fee Pricing System would not retroactively apply to current versions of Unity Software, but only to the new 2023 LTS Version, due to be released in 2024. For many developers it was already too late and that the unilateral changes to the Terms of Service, which they agreed to when starting long-term projects, represented a grave breach of trust.

Riccitiello seems to be the one who has had to shoulder this PR disaster. He isn’t new to controversy and resigning high profile positions. He could be returning.