"I was just following orders"? In the very specific case of the CEO, considering their position of power and control, they are still responsible - civically and criminally.
Also, a good CEO knows how to manage the board and provide sensible strategic alternatives; even if the board liked this dumb move, it's the CEO's fault for not having leveraged the company's resources (business directors, other C-level executives, etc) to produce a better strategy. The board was certainly pushing for more profits, but the CEO is the one to say how the company will get these increased profits.
Less "I was following orders" and more "my job is the make the company money". And sure, if I had to make the company money in the next quarter or two there's no initiative I can make on the technical end to launch a new product and run up buzz. Unity tried doing that all throughout the pandemic with a bunch of expansion to other industries (automotive, sports, construction, etc.).
So in comes the fees. But then those pesky LTS means nothing I charge to 2024 Unity will stick next quarter, nor all of 2024. The only question at this point is why I chose to do install based fees instead of the Rev share model standard in every other industry. It might have worked if they undercut Unreal and said "we'll only charge 2% of revenue after $1m". I wonder what the CTO was thinking because everywhere I've read suggests that there is simply no effective and ethical way to track installs as a Middleware.