Unity chief John Riccitiello: It’s ‘not enough’ to want to be a game startup CEO

If you talk to people who need money to make a game or those who invest in gaming, you’ll repeatedly hear how difficult it is to get funding. But one industry veteran thinks the problem is that some startups don’t have a strong core.

Unity chief executive officer John Riccitiello thinks that a new gaming studio won’t work if the people responsible for it don’t have a clear idea about what they want to make. In a fireside chat at the GamesBeat Summit in Sausalito earlier this week, the former CEO of publisher Electronic Arts explained that most successful developers he’s worked with all have driven creative leaders who are passionate about bringing their ideas to the world. And his suggestion to today’s startups is to make sure you have that before reaching for funding and taking a leap into building your own company for the $99.6 billion gaming market.