this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Unity (NYSE: U) (the “Company”), the world’s leading platform for creating and growing real-time 3D (RT3D) content, today announced that John Riccitiello will retire as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. James M. Whitehurst has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer, President and a member of the Board. Roelof Botha, Lead Independent Director of the Unity Board, has been appointed Chairman. Mr. Riccitiello will continue to advise Unity to ensure a smooth transition.

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[–] Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 71 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not 100% in the loop with the unity scandal just know the basics but theyre probably using him as a scapegoat to save face. No way was it just his decision haha

[–] habanhero@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

He can't be a "scapegoat" if he is the CEO. The buck stops with him, there is literally no one else left up the chain who can be responsible. It's his job.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Except for the board of directors that actually steers the company.

[–] habanhero@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

OK, how about the shareholders that elect the Board of Directors? Should they be "removed" as well?

My point is the function of the Chief Executive Officer is specifically to be accountable and responsible for the business functions of the company. Yes, BOD has made a bad call selecting him as a CEO and the shareholders will have an opportunity to re-elect the BOD, but how the business is run (the "Chief Executive" part) is owned by the CEO. And in this case he fucked up especially if he championed this pricing structure.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Board chose him, an EA guy with his track record of screw-the-customer decisions, to head a B2B company where customer relationships are totally different from B2C, and customers aren't mainly naive fad-following kids that will keep pre-ordering games from companies that screw them in the past.

They're dealing with adults with businesses as customers, not thrill-seeking teens who will forget any and all shit done to them in the past just to keep on playing the same games as their friends.

At the very least the members of the Board are spectacularly incompetent and should be removed so that the company has a chance of not collapsing withing the next 2 or 3 years (as projects that can't be moved out of Unity wrap up and customers chose different frameworks for new projects).

[–] habanhero@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The shareholders elect the BOD and they can remove them if they like. So in theory if you want to burn the house down then go after the shareholders too and the capitalistic society, but in my opinion that's another battle for another time.

In practice this is the reason why companies have CEOs. They are practically accountable for exactly the stuff like this, it's a well known part of their job description. That's the reason why I don't really consider him a scapegoat because, well, it's literally his job.

[–] lastunusedusername2@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The scapegoat part is that the company won't change at all.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

Bet he's walking away with millions as a result as well. Sickening.

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I bet he’s got a golden parachute on and will leave with more money than a dev will ever earn in their lifetime.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I doubt you will find anybody who takes the other side of that bet...

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 year ago

I'd wish him the worst, but I know he just got a golden parachute and will go to fuck up another company soon enough

[–] Stoneykins@mander.xyz 10 points 1 year ago

Every time this happens the CEO walks away incredibly wealthy for their actions and they are replaced by someone who wants to do all the stupid terrible shit faster and harder. I don't consider this good news.

[–] quams69@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

He made 22 million from the debacle, and that to me is the real problem.

[–] RanchOnPancakes@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago