Unity CEO John Riccitiello is stepping down as president, CEO, chairman, and board member, effective immediately. The decision comes weeks after a big backslash from developers and community due to the announced Runtime Fee plans for the Unity game engine. John Riccitiello was Electronic Arts CEO from 2007 to 2013, after which he joined Unity as a board director in 2013 and became CEO in 2014, holding the position for over nine years.

"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," he said in a statement provided by Unity. "I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company's future success," he added.Unity has appointed James M. Whitehurst as interim chief executive officer. Whitehurst is an executive veteran, previously serving as President and Chief Executive Officer at Red Hat and IBM from 2008 to 2020.

"I am honored to join Unity as Interim CEO and President at this important time in its evolution," Mr. Whitehurst said. "With the Company's experienced leadership and passionate employees, I am confident that Unity is well-positioned to continue enhancing its platform, strengthening its community of customers, developers and partners, and focusing on its growth and profitability goals. I look forward to working closely with the Board and our talented global team to execute on our strategy, and I anticipate a seamless transition."

As announced earlier, Unity has partially pulled back its decision to charge developers every time a game has been installed, and said this will apply to Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise plans and, more importantly, will no longer apply to existing games.