Those who do not focus on business in games: “idiots”.

For the former Electronic Arts boss now at the helm of Unity, developers who have not yet turned to microtransactions are “fucking idiots”.

John RiccitielloJohn Riccitiello, known as the former CEO of Electronic Arts (FIFA, TitanFall, The Sims), is not shy about talking to studios that have not yet opted for the microtransaction in their business plan. New CEO of Unity Technologies, Johnny spoke out in the columns of PocketGamer.biz to defend The engine’s merger with a controversial monetization manager.

Ferrari and some of the other high-end car manufacturers still use clay and carving knives. It’s a very small part of the gaming industry that operates that way, and some of those people are the people I’d rather fight with – they’re the people the most beautifulthe purest and the most brilliant. They are in some ways also fucking idiots.

I’ve been in the game industry longer than most people – I’ve got gray hair and all that. There was a time when developers would send their game to the publisher and the sales people without any prior interaction. This model is part of the philosophy of many art forms and media, and it is a model that I deeply respect; I know their dedication and care.

But this industry divides people between those who still hold to this philosophy and those who are closely interested in how to determine what makes a successful product. And I don’t know a single successful artist who doesn’t care what his reader thinks.

A speech that aims to prove that the search for gain and the contribution of microtransactions and other internal monetizations are beneficial to the titles, including in the creative process of a work. A statement, very close to the way Electronic Arts operates, which was not to the liking of some developers who did not hesitate to respond on social networks.

Tim Soretfounder of Odd Tales Games and creative director of The Last Night, even calls for his resignation.

It’s done. It’s time to publish an article I’ve been writing for a while about Riccitello’s disastrous leadership in recent yearsdestroying Unity that was indie, healthy and universally loved, turning it into a faceless and meaningless monster.

Riccitiello explains that he has integrated the search for monetization as a main component that must appear very early in the development of games. As a reminder, in 2020 for example, nearly 30% of EA’s revenue came from FIFA Ultimate Team microtransactions. An internal document stated that the publisher should focus all its efforts on this mode of financing.

A desire that now seems to be identical at Unity, which wants to offer tools that allow developers to manage not only the technical, but also the marketing. The general manager Marc Whitten ends with this:

Unity democratized creation. Nowadays, if I told you that the next top title was going to be made by two guys sitting in an apartment in the Philippines, it would hit you one way without moving the other. There’s a beauty in tools that allow people to discover that this is how they want to make a living, and our responsibility is to continue that democratization.

[La fusion avec IronSource] comes from having the same vision. To make feedback and publishing more transparent, instead of locking it in the black box of marketers. Creators can now look at every bit of monetization and feedback information the same way they would look at load times or optimization points in their C# code.

Factornews reminds us that IronSource is known to have creating viruses, which was also raised by several developers. Following this announcement, the share price plummeted on the stock market…