Former EA Boss Ridicules Game Developers About Monetization
The Internet is in an uproar after a controversial statement by the former head of Electronic Arts and current CEO of game engine developer Unity.
Photo source: Unity presentation at GDC 2018.
John Riccitiello, i.e. the CEO of Unity (which created and develops the popular engine of the same name), has upset players and developers with his recent statement.
Riccitiello's controversial statement
The controversial statement was made in an interview with Pocketgamer.biz
- Riccitiello said that developers are divided into those who implement proven monetization strategies from the beginning and those who don't think about it, approaching their games more like artists. He added that what the latter group does is beautiful, but at the same time they are "fucking idiots."
- The CEO has long been a controversial figure - he previously led Electronic Arts. Then he became famous for, among other things, reflecting on how beautiful it would be if Battlefield players could buy an extra magazine for $1 during gameplay.
- The context of the statement is important here - the interview was conducted after Unity announced merger with IronSource, a company best known for InstallCore, an app for installing malware. The program is such a nuisance that tools like Windows Defender and Malwarebytes began blocking it.
- Unity is the most popular engine among indie developers, so the merger raises a lot of concerns about the future of the technology.
- Riccitiello's words, in particular, sparked a negative reaction from indie developers. Below are sample statements.
Developer reaction
Rokashi (creator of Faraway Fairway):
"I strongly disagree with john riccitiello. what that scumbag doesn’t realize is some people simply enjoy making games for fun, or to educate, or to share a thought, idea, or experience. (...)
Why are they a “fucking idiot” for doing those things & not siphoning money from their players? (...) I'm so sick and tired of people within the industry looking down at people who don’t do as they do and try to take advantage of others."
Breogan Hackett (She worked on, among others. If Found...):
"John Riccitiello thinks I'm an idiot. I think he's a little greedy capitalist pig who only cares about money. I'm so tired of people like him ruining things I love."
Snipehunter (worked on, among others, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Diablo, Starcraft and Fear Effect):
"Come on Game Dev twitter; why are we pretending that we're only just now realizing John Riccitiello is the evil CEO that he is? We've known this for *Decades*, the dude ran EA."
Bruno Dias (storyline designer at Failbetter studio):
"Riccitiello's track record as an executive at EA should forever disqualify him from talking about business or monetization or strategy. he's an idiot."
Sagas Studios (creators of Canvas):
"John Riccitiello is a parasite on the industry. Drained EA as a company and took Unity public to do the same."
Recent months have not been successful for Unity's CEO. Since the beginning of the year, the value of the company's shares has fallen almost 80%, and the statement from the interview is unlikely to improve the situation.
According to analysts, the reason for the company's problems is poor management and misguided acquisitions. Exactly the same things were the reasons for the removal of John Riccitiello as EA's CEO in 2013.
Suda51 hates Riccitiello so much that he has made him a villain in not one but two games.
Finally, as a curiosity, it is worth mentioning what attitude the Japanese designer Suda51 has towards Riccitiello. The CEO got under the developer's skin so badly during the work on Shadows of the Damned that the developer had to work off his frustration in future projects.
In Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes the main villain of the campaign is the president of the Utopinia corporation named Damon Riccitiello. The character also appears in No More Heroes 3.
