Former EA CEO John Riccitiello is now CEO of Unity
Unity Co-Founder and CEO David Helgason has stepped down and appointed former EA CEO John Riccitiello as CEO of Unity Technologies. Helgason is now Executive Vice President in charge of strategy and communications.
"Unity has been a hugely positive force in the games industry for years," Riccitiello says in a press release. "Now it's my incredible fortune to have the opportunity to help guide Unity going forward. Unity is more than a great engine or packages of services, it's an amazing and diverse community of developers, many of which are changing the way we think about game design and production. Unity's mission – to democratize development – is an important one that I'm very happy to help drive forward."
Riccitiello resigned his position at EA in March 2013, in the midst of SimCity's online issues and shortly after Star Wars: The Old Republic switched to free-to-play. His departure letter noted that the company's financial performance was tracking below expectations. Riccitiello has served on the Unity Board of Directors since November 2013.
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Unity Technologies Appoints John Riccitiello as CEO
San Francisco, CA – October 22, 2014 – Unity Technologies announced today that Co-founder David Helgason has stepped back from his role as CEO and welcomed John Riccitiello, former CEO of Electronic Arts, into the position. Helgason will continue at Unity as Executive Vice President in charge of strategy and communications.
John Riccitiello steps into the role of CEO of Unity Technologies having served on the Board of Directors from November 2013. Previous to his work with Unity, Riccitiello served as the CEO of Electronic Arts and co-founded investment firm Elevation Partners. He has also served as advisor to, and invested in, several startups including Oculus VR and Synertainment.
"I'm so proud of everything Unity accomplished in the last decade but now it's time to look forward to an excellent future. Our mission is an important one, so I'm incredibly happy that John has agreed to lend his formidable experience to the role of CEO at Unity," said David Helgason. "We've had the chance to work together over the last year-and-a-bit and come to recognize how similar our views are on the importance of the democratization of development to a thriving developer ecosystem and healthy games industry. We're in great hands."
"Unity has been a hugely positive force in the games industry for years. Now it's my incredible fortune to have the opportunity to help guide Unity going forward." said John Riccitiello. "Unity is more than a great engine or packages of services, it's an amazing and diverse community of developers, many of which are changing the way we think about game design and production. Unity's mission -- to democratize development -- is an important one that I'm very happy to help drive forward."
