John Riccitiello, the CEO of Unity, has issued a statement apologising for his comments which referred to game developers that don’t prioritise monetisation in the creative process as “fucking idiots.”
Riccitiello was criticised heavily online earlier this week following his comments, and a subsequent follow-up tweet insisted that his words were taken “out of full context” and branded the reports “clickbait”. Now, he has issued a statement of apology for his “crude word choice” and published it via his Twitter account.
In the statement, Riccitiello stated: “I am sorry. I am listening and I will do better,” before going on to attempt to provide more context to his original statement and his thought processes behind it. “What I can do, perhaps, is provide more on what I was thinking when I did the interview. What I would have said if I had taken greater care.”
To our friends in the #unity community, I owe you this— pic.twitter.com/llJUL1LwXS
— John Riccitiello (@johnriccitiello) July 16, 2022
He goes on to express “great respect for game developers” and reiterated that he believes “The work they do is amazing.” Speaking directly to his monetisation comments, Riccitiello compared developers who create games for “a handful of friends” and those who “want player $ to buy the game or game items so they can make a living. Both of these motivations are noble.”
He rounded off his public apology by saying “Anyway, that’s it. Lots of words. And a sentence that I wish I had never said.”
It’s been a difficult time recently for Unity, as the company has also come under fire for its decision to merge with Ironsource, a company responsible for bundling adware in with its other offerings. Last month, Unity fired 200 employees to “realign resources” within the company.
In other gaming news, Stray publisher Annapurna Interactive has partnered with multiple stray cat charities to raise funds and awareness whilst giving away free copies of the game.
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