Unity CEO John Riccitiello didn’t make many new friends last week when developers who didn’t consider monetization in the early stages of game production said they were “stupid.” (Opens in a new tab)“His claim was relatively harmless. If you want to make money, think about how to do it and don’t accidentally annoy the player. But the wording was obviously not great. ..
Rich Tiello dismissed reports of his remarks “clickbait” and “out of full context” in response to an immediate (and fully predictable) backlash, but “I said. I’m deeply sorry if that offended the game developers. ” This didn’t help much. Some answers to his tweets pointed out that saying sorry if people were offended is not really the same as feeling sorry for being told. Perhaps with that in mind, Richtiello posted a stronger apology over the weekend, and he was listening to criticism, saying “it would be better.”
Thanks to you, friends of the #unity community — pic.twitter.com/llJUL1LwXSJuly 16, 2022
“I have a lot of respect for game developers,” writes Riccitiello. “Their work is great. Creativity is incredible, with triple A consoles, mobiles, indie games, etc. designed to be played by millions of people. Creative projects, it’s pure. It’s a game made just for the joy.
“One thing I’ve seen is that most game developers want to work incredibly hard and get people to play the game. To enjoy it. And the players are deeply involved. When appropriate to do. There is often anxiety for the game developers I have worked with most closely about whether players love the game and appreciate all the work and love they have spent making it. “
Ritchiello said his point wasn’t focused on making money, but “there’s a better way for game developers to read early on what players think of their game.” rice field. For developers who want to make money from their work, this involves a monetization process. I think this is a fair position. As Electronic Arts learned a difficult way (Opens in a new tab)Clumsy monetization can cause nasty blowbacks, and consumers are becoming more aware and sensitive to more aggressive monetization tactics than ever before.
The response to this apology seems to be a little more measured: most of the criticisms in the reply tweet seem to focus on the controversial merger with Unity’s IronSource rather than last week’s interview. (Opens in a new tab)Announced just weeks after Unity fired hundreds of employees (Opens in a new tab) As part of an effort to “realign” resources.
