Unity closes offices over threat sent by an employee

Unity has been forced to close two of its offices in Texas and California after a death threat, later discovered to be from an employee, was sent via social media.

The details:

• As reported by Bloomberg, Unity was forced to close its offices in Austin and San Francisco after receiving a "credible death threat" just before CEO John Riccitiello was scheduled to address employees at a company meeting. “Today we have been made aware of a potential threat to some of our offices,” said the company in a statement. “We have taken immediate and proactive measures to ensure the safety of our employees, which is our top priority. We are closing our offices today and tomorrow which could be potential targets for this threat, and are fully cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation.”
• Following the report, Polygon contacted police departments in both cities, as well as the FBI. The San Francisco Police Department responded that a "reporting party" had informed law enforcement that "an employee made a threat towards his employer using social media." It was also stated that the employee was not working in California.
• The threat was most likely made in response to Unity's recent announcement that it will begin charging developers a "Unity Runtime Fee" for using the engine in games, with the amount of revenue generated and the number of copies sold determining the fee. This has resulted in significant community backlash, with various studios pledging to abandon the engine and either delist or migrate their existing titles to other engines such as Unreal Engine. The company attempted to address some user concerns, but it appears that it is not planning to reverse its decision.

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