Unity cancels the meeting it had scheduled at the town hall due to reported threats. According to a new Bloomberg report, the company appears to have canceled the scheduled meeting because of threats described as possible.
Unity's stock plunge has taken a worrying and dangerous turn. According to the same report, Unity CEO John Riccitiello was scheduled to address employees on Thursday morning, but the meeting was canceled and two of Unity's offices were closed due to the alleged threats
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Earlier this week, Unity, the popular video game engine builder among indie developers, announced changes to its pricing model. In addition to the annual subscription, Unity plans to introduce a new plan . This will allow developers to be charged for each game installed on a device, once the game meets certain download and revenue thresholds.
The news caused a huge reaction, with independent developers expressing massive dissatisfaction. They argued that the changes would negatively affect their already limited earnings and would undermine their trust, as the changes were announced without sufficient clarity or warning. Some threaten that they will not use Unity again and encourage players to pay but not download their games to avoid the new fees.
Riccitiello himself has become a central figure in the controversy, with some considering him the driving force behind the new model. He was the CEO of Electronic Artswhen the controversial, revenue-generating loot box system was added to FIFA 09. He became famous when he called some developers “stupid” for their resistance to introducing revenue-generating schemes earlier in the development process.
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Additionally, there's a famous quote from Riccitiello during a shareholder conference call about charging Battlefield players a dollar to reload their weapons. Additionally, Unity's CEO caused a stir this week when he said he sold 2,000 shares of Unity stock shortly before the news broke – the stock price subsequently fell significantly.
Unity announced on Twitter some clarifications about the new pricing structure and retracted it. Developers will no longer be charged for reinstalls of games, but will be charged for installations on multiple devices. There will be programs to protect against fraud or malicious activity, and games included in charity packages will not be subject to charges. Unity also said that it expects only 10% of its users to be affected by these changes.
Source: theverge.com
