Unity Technologies' longtime chief executive, John Riccitiello, has resigned from the San Francisco-based game development company weeks after the announcement of a controversial new pricing strategy.
The resignation is "effective immediately" but Riccitiello will "continue to advise Unity to ensure a smooth transition," the company said in a statement.
Riccitiello is stepping down after spending a decade at the company, including nine years as CEO, and the resignation comes just weeks after news of a new fee that angered many game developers.
On Sept. 12, Unity announced that beginning next year game developers would be charged a new fee every time a game using its technology was installed on a device, angering many developers. A couple of days later, the company temporarily closed its offices after reportedly receiving a death threat.
Ten days after announcing the initial fee change, Unity publicly apologized to its users and partially rolled back the fee to maintain a free tier, in addition to increasing the revenue thresholds that would trigger the new fee.
Former Red Hat and IBM executive James M. Whitehurst will become the company's interim CEO, president and board member.
Roelof Botha will step into the chairman role. Botha is a partner at Sequoia Capital and currently an independent director on Unity's board.
“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,” Riccitiello said in a statement. “I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company’s future success.”
Riccitiello also stepped into controversy last year when he said that game developers who don't monetize their content early on were the "biggest fucking idiots." He apologized several days later in a post on Twitter, The Verge reported at the time.
Riccitiello joined Unity as a board member in 2013 and stepped into the CEO role the following year. Prior to Unity, he was the CEO of Redwood City-based Electronic Arts for six years. Before that, he was a co-founder and managing director at Elevation Partners, a Menlo Park venture firm.
Unity's stock dropped 2% to $29 after market close on Monday but then rebounded to more than $30 as of 8 p.m. PT, around 1.4% above its closing price.
The company has also laid off hundreds of workers across three rounds of cuts since mid-2022, including close to 300 positions at the beginning of 2023 and 600 more several months later.
