The monetization of video games is a much-discussed topic. Now, the CEO of Unity and former CEO of Electronic Arts has made a statement that insults developers who do not prioritize monetization early in a game’s development.
Who is it about? John Riccitiello is currently the CEO of Unity Technologies. Previously, the 64-year-old was the CEO of Electronic Arts from 2007 to 2013.
With Unity Technologies, he is working for the company that is behind the Unity engine, an engine used in many games. These include titles such as Valheim, Genshin Impact, Subnautica, and CoD Mobile.
“Some of the biggest idiots”
What was the conversation about? In an interview with PocketGamer.biz, John Riccitiello spoke about the monetization of video games, a much-discussed theme.
Games are often criticized, for example, for relying on microtransactions or similar practices. A current example is Diablo Immortal and its Pay2Win system.
How did Riccitiello insult the developers? Riccitiello was asked in the interview about how the early introduction of monetization in a game meets resistance from some developers.
The 64-year-old responded that these types of developers are the most beautiful, honest, brilliant people, but also some of the biggest idiots there are.
He previously mentioned that he enjoys arguing with these people.
Below, we have translated the relevant statements into German.
- pocketgamer.biz: “The introduction of monetization earlier in the process and conversation is certainly an aspect that has met resistance from some developers.”
- Riccitiello: “Ferrari and some of the other high-end car manufacturers still work with clay and chisels. It is a very small part of the gaming industry that works this way, and some of these people are my favorite people in the world to argue with – they are the most beautiful and honest, brilliant people. But they are also some of the biggest idiots around.”
Riccitiello: “Clickbait. Taken out of context.”
What does Riccitiello say in hindsight about his statement? After the interview with PocketGamer.biz was published, the statement that Riccitiello insulted the developers in question quickly spread across the internet.
Riccitiello himself later appeared on Twitter to be somewhat unrepentant and tried to smooth things over by claiming that the reporting was clickbait and that his statement was taken out of context. Nevertheless, he ultimately apologized.
Unity once again in criticism
What criticism did Unity face earlier? Before Unity-CEO Riccitiello drew the attention of the gaming industry with the interview, the company was at the center of another discussion.
Just a few days before, Unity had announced that it had agreed to a merger with the company IronSource.
IronSource is known for developing InstallCore. This is an application that installs unwanted and harmful software on a PC.
But not only Riccitiello’s current employer is facing criticism. Just recently, a tweet from his former workplace Electronic Arts piqued interest, causing even its own employees to shake their heads.
EA finds people silly who only play single-player games – even the employees shake their heads.
