John Riccitiello will retire as Unity Technologies‘s president, CEO and chairman effective immediately, the video-game and 3D content software company said.
Riccitiello’s resignation comes after Unity last month rolled out a new pricing model — switching from a flat licensing fee to a per-download charge — and retroactively changed its terms of service, angering many customers. Unity backtracked a few days later, instituting a flat 2.5% free for a project’s total revenue, but the move generated a considerable amount of ill-will.
With Riccitiello’s exit, the company named James Whitehurst interim CEO, president and board member while a search is conducted with an executive-recruiting firm to identify a permanent replacement. Whitehurst, formerly president of IBM and Red Hat CEO, currently serves as a special adviser to investment firm Silver Lake, which owns about a 9% stake in Unity.
Unity independent director Roelof Botha has been appointed chairman. Riccitiello “will continue to advise Unity to ensure a smooth transition,” the company said in a statement Monday.
Riccitiello joined Unity’s board in 2013 and stepped in to lead the company in 2014. “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 provided by the company.
Unity sells a platform for developing real-time 3D content and experiences — spanning games, film, animation and other areas — across mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and augmented- and virtual-reality devices.
