Unity CEO Steps Down Amid Price Hikes and Customer Revolt

Key takeaways

• Gaming company Unity’s CEO, John Riccitiello, has resigned as CEO
• The move comes after a controversial price hike decision which was taken very badly by its user base
• Unity’s share price was up as much as 4.3% at the news

It’s time for a new era at gaming development company Unity after its CEO has resigned. John Riccitiello had been in the role since 2014 but oversaw an unfortunate price hike fiasco that led to literal death threats at the company.

An interim CEO has now been installed, and the stock price jumped at the news. Now, Unity needs to regain the broken trust of its customer base. Here’s everything you need to know about the CEO resignation and price hike drama.

What’s happened with the Unity CEO?

John Riccitiello is no more. The now-former CEO of games company Unity has departed immediately, with executive James Whitehurst appointed as interim CEO, effective immediately.

Riccitiello has had an unfortunate history in the role of CEO, having formerly been in the top job at EA from 2007 to 2013. After a series of failed acquisitions, EA’s stock fell 60% during his tenure.

Unity’s board has confirmed it’s seeking a new CEO to take over the helm. Interim chief executive Whitehurst has experience in the role, having been in the top job at RedHat before IBM bought it.

Unity’s stock price rose by 4.3% to $30.99 at the announcement.

What was the price hike drama?

Riccitiello’s time at Unity has also been dogged by recent controversy after the company announced it was introducing an unpopular price hike, which caused a game developer revolt. Unity operates and licenses video game development apps like Unity Engine, but the upset was around the company planning on charging its customers for every new installation of their game after a threshold was hit.

Naturally, Unity’s customer base wasn’t happy, even having to close two offices after receiving death threats. Unity soon announced it would instead limit its fees to 4% of a game’s total revenue for any customers that made over $1 million.

Unity said in an X (formerly Twitter) post, “We hear you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused. We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy.”

As a result of the drama, Unity’s share price has fallen 27% in the last three months. Given the stock price jump at Riccitiello’s removal, it seems investors are confident the company’s future will be better with a new CEO installed.

The bottom line

It was clear Riccitiello had to go after such a strong backlash from Unity’s customer base over the pricing saga. With Unity reporting its third-quarter results in November, we’ll be able to see what kind of damage the disastrous announcement has done.

In the meantime, Unity needs to focus on steering the ship through rough economic times, trying to boost the stock price back to where it was and tempt once-loyal customers back to the fold. It’s a tall order.