The De-Riccitiello-ification of Unity

Former EA CEO John Riccitiello was at the helm of Unity for almost a decade and during that time Unity have made several major moves. Among the highlights of the Riccitiello era include:

So… how did these acquisitions and developments turn out? Well:

So… not great. Although they still have Ziva Digital… right… right? Well, that leads us to today’s announcement:

Today, users of Ziva VFX, Ziva Real-Time, Ziva Face Trainer, and related Ziva products received a notice from Unity that we are no longer actively selling or supporting these products. Active subscribers have the option to convert their existing license to a five-year term in the Ziva customer portal so that they may continue using the product beyond the expiration date of their existing license.

This decision is a part of our ongoing company reset. At Unity, we are focused on our core: the Unity Editor and Runtime, Unity Cloud, and our Monetization Solutions. By focusing on these few areas, we believe we can best serve our community’s needs.

Unity has also entered into an agreement with DNEG, a leading technology-enabled visual effects (VFX) and animation company for the creation of feature film, television, and multiplatform content, for an exclusive perpetual license of the Ziva IP. Unity will continue to retain ownership of all the technology acquired from Ziva Dynamics, and we will continue to evaluate the best way to enhance our core offerings with it over time.

We extend a huge thank you to all of the creators who tried Ziva over the years.

The only remnants of the John Riccitiello era remaining at this point are Parsec and SpeedTree. You can learn more about the ongoing de-Riccitiello-ification of Unity in the video below.