John Riccitiello, Unity's President & CEO Will be Stepping Down

After the head-scratching saga that Unity has gone through, it seems the company's shareholders are now looking to close out this chapter and hopefully regain some of the trust lost under John Riccitiello's leadership.

Today, Jason Schreier, one of the gaming industry's most respected journalists and insiders, reported that John Riccitiello was stepping down from his role as Unity's CEO and president.

To recap the events, just under a month ago, Unity, a major Game engine that is used by hundreds if not thousands of developers from indies to major titles, and many times more by students across the globe, announced they would be making a drastic change to their payment structure.

Soon after, they attempted to clarify their position, but the fire was loose, and for a rare occasion, gamers and developers were aligned. This proposed change was unacceptable. Thus, within a week, the change was completely reversed. But the damage was done.

Time will tell if this most recent development is enough to convince developers to stand by the engine going forward. But there have been plenty of smaller indie studios that have made their intentions clear. That this was an unprecedented breach of trust and that they would not go back to the engine no matter what.

In its place, many have chosen to look at Unreal Engine, which powers Mortal Kombat 1, all be it Unreal Engine 4; and Tekken 8, which will make use of Unreal Engine 5. Other developers, generally those in the indie space, have chosen to look into GODOT, an open-source engine. Since the Unity situation, the public fund for the open source project has exploded with support from not just individuals but multiple existing developers.