Unity CEO Apologized for His "Crude" Words About Devs
John Riccitiello has apologized for calling devs who are against implementing monetization at the early stages of the creative process "the biggest idiots."
In a recent interview with PocketGamer.biz, Unity CEO John Riccitiello shared his thoughts on developers who are against implementing monetization at the early stages of the creative process calling them "some of the biggest fucking idiots" and noting that games should be dealt with not only as art but also as a product and commodity.
Following the interview, the gaming community, including developers of Gotham Knights, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Selaco, Celeste, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Last Night criticized Riccitiello, with some of them saying they were proud to be "fucking idiots".
On July 16, the head of Unity took to Twitter to apologize for his "crude" words.
"I want to talk about both what I said in the interview, and my follow up tweet," Riccitiello wrote. "I'm going to start with an apology. My word choice was crude. I am sorry. I am listening and I will do better."
Riccitiello stated that he respects all game developers and sees nothing wrong with the fact that some game creators do not think about the money side of things and make a project "just for the sheer joy of it."
"Sometimes all a game developer wants is to have a handful of friends enjoy the game. Art for art sake and art for friends. Others want player $ to buy the game or game items so they can make a living. Both of these motivations are noble."
The head of Unity also tried to clarify what he was trying to say in the interview. According to Riccitiello, with the right tools, developers can better assess the interests of the players even before the release of the game. He noted that such tools can help developers get early feedback from players and adjust the game based on it if they wish to. He also added that Unity is currently working on providing the tools that will help devs learn from players' feedback.
"If I had been smarter in choosing my words I would have just said this... we are working to provide developers with tools so they can better understand what their players think, and it is up to them to act or not, based on this feedback."
