that John Riccitiello ceased to be the president and member of the company’s management board with immediate effect.
It has been an honor to lead Unity for almost a decade and to serve our employees, customers, developers and partners, all of whom have played key roles in the company’s growth. I look forward to supporting Unity through this transformation and following the company’s future successes
– said John Riccitiello himself, quoted in the release. James M. Whitehurst, who previously served as president of IBM, became Unity’s interim president.
John Riccitiello is leaving Unity. This was to be expected
For people who have been following the situation around Unity in recent weeks, the departure of John Riccitiello should not come as any surprise. Let us recall that in September, Unity announced its plan to introduce an “installation tax”, which was to be imposed on game developers using the Unity engine.
According to the assumptions, developers who would achieve an annual revenue of PLN 200,000 in a given year dollars or their game would be downloaded over 200,000. times by players, they would have to pay Unity 20 cents for… each install of their game. Let it be said once again: we are not talking about a purchase here, but about a single installation of a game on a computer or console.
This decision caused great outrage in the gaming industry. It is no secret that Unity is an engine used not only by gaming industry giants, but also by much smaller developers. The case was addressed, among others, by: creators of the popular independent game “Rust”. In an entry with a telling title posted on their website, they explained why the American company’s decision makes no sense and could potentially completely ruin smaller game developers.
It’s like Adobe charging all Photoshop users to view their graphics… and then trying to come up with a system where they could track those views each month and then invoice them. Not just for new graphics, but all the graphics you’ve created in the last 20 years
– they explained.
In reaction to Unity’s decision, many creators announced that they did not intend to continue working with the company and would create their next games based on other engines. The criticism from the developer community and the players themselves was so great that Unity ultimately withdrew almost all of its plans.
The most hated president in the world
Although the announcement regarding John Riccitiello’s departure does not contain even a single mention of the recent scandal, it is no secret that the former president of Unity was one of the biggest advocates of additional taxation of game creators.
Riccitiello, who has been present in the gaming industry for several decades, has already managed to label himself enemy number one among the gaming community and is sometimes called by them “the most hated president in the world.”
It was he who, while still the president of Electronic Arts (he managed this company in 2007-2014), contributed significantly to the popularization of the so-called microtransactions, which are the real nightmare of games today – and not only those created by EA. In 2011, during one of his meetings with investors, Riccitiello became famous for proposing to charge players a fee for each magazine reload in the game “Battlefield 3”.
Although this idea – fortunately – never came to fruition, it clearly shows the “vision” of the former president of Unity. This is a vision in which we attach the player to a given game (e.g. through addictive mechanisms) and then try to squeeze every possible dollar out of him.
Riccitiello’s reign at Electronic Arts (he is also responsible for ruining several smaller studios that came under EA’s wing) had such a negative impact on the company’s image that in 2012 and 2013, EA held the title of “Worst Company in America”
Riccitiello also shared his love for monetization systems with the world as the president of Unity. Last July, his words addressed to those game producers who still do not offer microtransactions in their games were widely echoed. Riccitiello called them outright “fucking idiots.”
Ferrari and some other high-end car manufacturers still use clay and knives for carving. This is also how a small part of the gaming industry works, and some of them are my favorites to compete with. They are the most beautiful, pure and brilliant people, but they are also some of the biggest f***ing idiots
– And although he later apologized for these words, the bad taste remained.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
