Unity is now under new leadership as president, CEO, chairman, and board of directors member John Riccitiello has retired. Effective immediately, James M. Whitehurst will take over the roles of president, CEO, and Board member until a permanent replacement is decided upon. The position of chairman will be held by Roelof Botha. During a brief transitional phase, Riccitiello will stick around to help advise Unity.
Riccitiello's retirement from Unity comes just a couple of weeks after the company announced some tremendously stupid monetization changes, dug their hole a little deeper, and then eventually walked back several of those planned changes.
It's hard not to imagine that the near universal anger towards the proposed monetization changes had a little something to do with Riccitiello's departure. You also get the feeling that perhaps his retirement from Unity wasn't exactly completely his decision, despite the professional public statements made in today's press release about the leadership changes.
"Working with Unity under John's leadership has been one of the highlights of my career. John joined the Unity Board in 2013 and stepped in to lead the Company in 2014, at a time when we faced significant challenges," Mr. Botha said. "John has led Unity through incredible growth over the last nearly 10 years, helping us transition from a perpetual license to a subscription model, enabling developers to monetize, building other game services to serve our creator community, leading us through an IPO and positioning us as a pioneer in the developer community. Unity would not be where it is today without the impact of his contributions. I remain excited for the future of Unity.
"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,†Mr. Riccitiello said. “I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company’s future success."
"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,†Mr. Riccitiello said. “I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company’s future success."
