Unity CEO John Riccitiello ‘retires’ following controversies

Unity CEO John Riccitiello has “retired” amid controversies that have plagued the company under his watch. 

“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,” said Riccitiello.

“I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the company’s future success.”

Unity recently created widespread...

10 October 2023 | Development Tools

Unity’s runtime fee controversy: Diving into the why and how

unity game engine runtime fee controversy development coding programming

The recent rollercoaster ride of Unity's controversial runtime fee rollout has left the game development community bewildered and seeking answers.

After an initial announcement — followed by modifications and a reannouncement — Unity's President, Marc Whitten, addressed the issue in a live fireside chat on YouTube, attempting to shed light on the reasons behind this turbulent rollout.

Apologies for missteps

Whitten began by offering a heartfelt apology to the...

26 September 2023 | Development Tools

Details emerge around Unity’s fee changes after outcry

Details have emerged regarding the proposed changes to Unity’s controversial per-install fee plan for developers.

These changes come in response to the outcry and concerns raised within the game development community about Unity’s recently announced new fee structure potentially bankrupting developers.

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, known for his in-depth coverage of the gaming industry, has shed light on the potential modifications during a Unity all-hands...

19 September 2023 | Developer

Inworld and its AI NPCs are now valued at $500M

Inworld, a trailblazing company at the forefront of AI and gaming, has just closed a fundraising round where it raised a further $50 million.

This latest capital infusion – backed by prominent investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Stanford University, First Spark Ventures, Samsung Next, LG Technology Ventures, and existing investors like Microsoft’s M12 fund and Intel Capital – brings Inworld's total funding to over $120 million since its inception in...

3 August 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

UKIE publishes guidance on loot boxes

UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) has published new principles to address concerns surrounding loot boxes in video games and provide better protections for players. 

The industry body has published 11 principles in total, developed by the Technical Working Group convened by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS). These principles aim to ensure that loot boxes are used responsibly and transparently within video games.

John Whittingdale, Minister for...

19 July 2023 | Developer

Steam won’t distribute games with AI assets (for now)

Valve recently addressed the controversy surrounding its stance on distributing games featuring AI-generated art and content via its Steam storefront.

Reports emerged last week suggesting that Valve was refusing to distribute games featuring AI-generated assets, sparking a debate within the gaming community. However, in a statement to IGN, Valve spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle clarified the company's position.

Aitchison Boyle emphasised that Valve is not attempting to...

3 July 2023 | App Stores

Sony accused of ‘blatant anti-competitive conduct’

Congress has raised concerns about Sony's monopoly on the gaming market in Japan, calling for an investigation into the firm's alleged "exclusionary conduct."

Senator Maria Cantwell told a Senate Finance Committee hearing: “Sony controls a monopoly of 98 percent of the high-end game market, yet Japan's government has allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers.”

Cantwell called on US Trade...

28 March 2023 | Gaming

Unity rejects AppLovin’s bumper takeover bid

Game development platform Unity has rejected a large takeover bid from mobile technology firm AppLovin.

AppLovin offered to acquire Unity in an all-stock deal worth $17.5 billion. However, the offer came with the stipulation that Unity drops its own bid for ironSource.

IronSource and AppLovin both offer services to help developers grow and monetise their apps.

Unity’s acquisition of ironSource would provide the latter with a significant advantage in both...

16 August 2022 | Development Tools

Unity CEO apologises for calling some game devs ‘the biggest fucking idiots’

Unity CEO John Riccitiello has apologised for a recent interview in which he called some game developers “the biggest fucking idiots”.

Pocket Gamer was interviewing Riccitiello about the game development platform’s merger with monetisation and distribution specialists ironSource when he made the comment.

Here’s the part of the interview in question (emphasis ours):

Pocket Gamer: Implementing monetisation earlier in the process and conversation is...

19 July 2022 | Gaming

Project Moorcraft: Xbox will pay game developers to publish demos

Xbox has unveiled Project Moorcraft, an initiative to boost the demos available on Game Pass while helping developers to earn some bucks.

This month is when game developers and fans usually flock to the E3 Expo to see the latest game reveals and platform updates and get their hands on early previews of upcoming titles.

E3 was put on hold during the pandemic and all the major gaming players switched to virtual events for their big reveals. Unfortunately, that meant lining...

9 June 2022 | Gaming