Employees at Unity are on edge after intense backlash of the company’s pricing changes for developers culminated in a death threat by one of their own colleagues, leading the company to temporarily close two offices and cancel a planned all-hands meeting with CEO John Riccitiello. Internally, I’m told that a bunker mentality has set in, with managers telling their teams that they can stay home even if their office hasn’t been closed. 

A memo sent yesterday morning to employees says that a “credible” threat led to the office closures and that the company is actively working with law enforcement. While the memo didn’t acknowledge that the threat came from inside the house, the San Francisco police department later issued a statement saying that Unity reported an “employee” who had “made a threat towards his employer using social media” and that said employee worked “at an out of state location.”

Naturally, the situation is extremely stressful for Unity employees. “Hey all - the threats are getting out of hand,” Eric Pvncher, an engineer there, posted on X yesterday. “We’re all people trying to navigate this situation together.” Another employee, Paul Georges, posted: “Signing off for a while everyone. This is just too overwhelming and difficult.”