Unity’s new CEO pitches ‘fundamentally different company’ after rough year
Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Five months into his tenure as CEO of Unity Software, Matt Bromberg is overseeing his first big product launch as he tries to push the company past an extended stretch of challenges.
On Friday, the video game software company announced the sixth version of its flagship product, Unity Engine, a set of tools developers can use to produce games across a number of devices, including iPhones and Android phones.
Unity 6 is emphasizing stability, predictable updates and the ability to support hundreds of players in the same virtual world at the same time, Bromberg told CNBC. The company is seeking to rebound from a dark period that’s included layoffs, significant losses, a troubled relationship with many customers and a shakeup at the top.
“With the release of Unity 6, we’re interested in reconnecting with customers and help them understand that it’s our commitment to deliver what matters to them, and that we’re going to be a fundamentally different company in that regard,” Bromberg said.
Bromberg, a veteran of the gaming industry, was appointed CEO on May 1. He previously spent almost six years as COO of mobile game company Zynga, which was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2022, and more than four years at Electronic Arts.
Bromberg’s predecessor, John Riccitiello, announced his retirement last October following a controversial pricing change that frustrated numerous developers. James Whitehurst, former CEO of Red Hat, was serving as interim CEO until Bromberg joined.
The new CEO’s first big challenge was unwinding Riccitiello’s decision to implement what became known as the “Unity Runtime Fee.”
Unity Software ex-CEO John Riccitiello speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 in San Francisco on Sept. 5, 2018.
Steve Jennings | TechCrunch | Getty Images
Traditionally, Unity sold its software by the seat, so companies paid an annual fee per user for the engine. In September of last year, the company said customers would have to start paying a flat fee any time an app or game using Unity was downloaded. Game developers rebelled and threatened to find alternative game engines.
Last month, Unity scrapped its runtime fee. Unity Engine 6 will cost about $2,200 per user per year for companies with revenue of more than $200,000. Negotiable pricing will be available for the largest customers. Unity says it will raise its prices on a predictable annual schedule.
“We’re saying to our customers, hey, this is something you can build your multi-billion dollar game business on,” Bromberg said.
Unity is used to build the majority of mobile games, including Monopoly Go, which has grossed an estimated $3 billion, according to one estimate.
Slumping stock price, steady market share
Unity’s problems go beyond the shifting business model. The stock is down 23% over the past year and has lost 90% of its value since peaking in November 2021, which was a little over a year after the company’s IPO.
For the second quarter, Unity reported a net loss of over $125 million. In January, the company said it was cutting about a quarter of its workforce, or roughly 1,800 jobs, in order to improve long-term profitability.
Even after a tumultuous stretch, the company has maintained its strength with game developers. Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in September that Unity’s game engine still has 70% of the mobile market, proving “how deep its moats truly are, as competitors have been unable to gain share at Unity’s expense.”
Bromberg told CNBC that Unity is staying away from the generative artificial intelligence hype. Game developers tend to be skeptical of generative AI, as many say it rips off work from other artists and represents lower-cost competition.
“We’re less excited about making investments in generative AI,” Bromberg said. Instead, Unity will support using AI-created artwork and character designs, and will use AI behind the scenes to speed up the release of a game.
Another area of focus for Bromberg has been simplifying the company’s push into the enterprise. In previous years, Unity has said that its game engine can be used for all kinds of 3D simulations, including “digital twins,” a buzzword that describes creating a full digital simulation of a complicated operation, such as a factory.
Now it’s more about games, which can include plenty of 3D elements.
“Our strategy going forward is going to be to be focused a little bit more narrowly on the organic uses of our engine in industry,” Bromberg said. “That comes down to 3D visualization.”
Bromberg said he remains optimistic about virtual reality and augmented reality, including Apple’s Vision Pro headset, which is supported by Unity 6.
“The real strength of Unity is we take really big, immersive experiences that are created in our engine, and then you can distribute them on any device, no matter how light it is — the world’s worst phone, a set of glasses, a headset,” Bromberg said.
WATCH: Unity is a ‘mess’
U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and C.C. Wei, chief executive officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (left), shake hands during an announcement of an additional $100 billion into TSMC’s U.S. manufacturing at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., on March 3, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The latest version of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” could make it cheaper for semiconductor manufacturers to build plants in the U.S. as Washington continues its efforts to strengthen its domestic chip supply chain.
Under the bill, passed by the Senate Tuesday, tax credits for those semiconductor firms would rise to 35% from 25%. That’s more than the 30% increase that had made it into a draft version of the bill.
Companies eligible for the credits could include chipmakers such as Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Micron Technology, provided that they expand their advanced manufacturing in the U.S. ahead of a 2026 deadline.
The new provisions expand on tax incentives under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which provided grants of $39 billion and loans of $75 billion for U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing projects.
But before the expanded credits come into play, Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package will have to be passed again in the House, which narrowly passed its own version last month. The president has urged lawmakers to get the bill passed by July 4.
Trump versus Biden
Since Trump’s first term, Washington has been trying to onshore more of the advanced semiconductor supply chain from Asia, support its domestic players and limit China’s capabilities.
Although tax provisions in Trump’s sweeping policy bill expand on those in the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act, his overall approach to the semiconductor industry has been different.
Earlier this year, the president even called for a repeal of the CHIPS Act, though Republican lawmakers have been reluctant to act on that front. Still, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last month that the administration was renegotiating some of the Biden administration’s grants.
Trump has previously stated that tariffs, as opposed to the CHIPS Act grants, would be the best method of onshoring semiconductor production. The Trump administration is currently conducting an investigation into imports of semiconductor technology, which could result in new duties on the industry.
In recent months, a number of chipmakers with projects in the U.S. have ramped up planned investments there. That includes the world’s largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, as well as American chip companies such as Nvidia, Micron and GlobalFoundries.
According to Daniel Newman, CEO at tech advisory firm Futurum Group, the threat of Trump’s tariffs has created more urgency for semiconductor companies to expand U.S. capacity. If the increased investment tax credits come into law, those onshoring efforts are only expected to accelerate, he told CNBC.
“Given the risk of tariffs, increasing manufacturing in the U.S. remains a key consideration for these large semiconductor companies,” Newman said, adding that the tax credits could be seen as an opportunity to offset certain costs related to U.S.-based projects.
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
Jim Lo Scalzo | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tesla shares have dropped 7% from Friday’s closing price of $323.63 to the $300.71 close on Tuesday ahead of the company’s second-quarter deliveries report.
Wall Street analysts are expecting Tesla to report deliveries of around 387,000 — a 13% decline compared to deliveries of nearly 444,000 a year ago, according to a consensus compiled by FactSet. Prediction market Kalshi told CNBC on Tuesday that its traders forecast deliveries of around 364,000.
Shares in the electric vehicle maker had been rising after Tesla started a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in late June and CEO Elon Musk boasted of its first “driverless delivery” of a car to a customer there.
The stock price took a turn after Musk on Saturday reignited a feud with President Donald Trump over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the massive spending bill that the commander-in-chief endorsed. The bill is now heading for a final vote in the House.
That legislation would benefit higher-income households in the U.S. while slashing spending on programs such as Medicaid and food assistance.
Musk did not object to cuts to those specific programs. However, Musk on X said the bill would worsen the U.S. deficit and raise the debt ceiling. The bill includes tax cuts that would add around $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
The Tesla CEO has also criticized aspects of the bill that would cut hundreds of billions of dollars in support for renewable energy development in the U.S. and phase out tax credits for electric vehicles.
Such changes could hurt Tesla as they are expected to lower EV sales by roughly 100,000 vehicles per year by 2035, according to think tank Energy Innovation.
The bill is also expected to reduce renewable energy development by more than 350 cumulative gigawatts in that same time period, according to Energy Innovation. That could pressure Tesla’s Energy division, which sells solar and battery energy storage systems to utilities and other clean energy project developers.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that Musk was, “upset that he’s losing his EV mandate,” but that the tech CEO could “lose a lot more than that.” Trump was alluding to the subsidies, incentives and contracts that Musk’s many businesses have relied on.
SpaceX has received over $22 billion from work with the federal government since 2008, according to FedScout, which does federal spending and government contract research. That includes contracts from NASA, the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, among others.
Tesla has reported $11.8 billion in sales of “automotive regulatory credits,” or environmental credits, since 2015, according to an evaluation of the EV maker’s financial filings by Geoff Orazem, CEO of FedScout.
These incentives are largely derived from federal and state regulations in the U.S. that require automakers to sell some number of low-emission vehicles or buy credits from companies like Tesla, which often have an excess.
Regulatory credit sales go straight to Tesla’s bottom line. Credit revenue amounted to approximately 60% of Tesla’s net income in the second quarter of 2024.
WATCH: Threats to SpaceX & Tesla as Musk, Trump feud heats up
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos leaves Aman Venice hotel, on the second day of the wedding festivities of Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, June 27, 2025.
Yara Nardi | Reuters
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unloaded more than 3.3 million shares of his company in a sale valued at roughly $736.7 million, according to a financial filing on Tuesday.
The stock sale is part of a previously arranged trading plan adopted by Bezos in March. Under that arrangement, Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares of Amazon over a period ending May 29, 2026.
Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021 but remains chairman, has been selling stock in the company at a regular clip in recent years, though he’s still the largest individual shareholder. He adopted a similar trading plan in February 2024 to sell up to 50 million shares of Amazon stock through late January of this year.
Bezos previously said he’d sell about $1 billion in Amazon stock each year to fund his space exploration company, Blue Origin. He’s also donated shares to Day 1 Academies, his nonprofit that’s building a chain of Montessori-inspired preschools across several states.
The most recent stock sale comes after Bezos and Lauren Sanchez tied the knot last week in a lavish wedding in Venice. The star-studded celebration, which took place over three days and sparked protests from some local residents, was estimated to cost around $50 million.
Bezos is ranked third in Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index with a net worth of about $240 billion. He’s behind Tesla CEO Elon Musk at $363 billion and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at $260 billion.
WATCH: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ wedding sparks Venice protests
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