Whispers began circulating over the weekend that Unity was looking for a buyer, and had begun pitching its popular game engine to the likes of Google. As the rumours threatened to cage the company in a great, suffocating speculattice, its co-founder was forced to head to the Unity forums and clear the air.
“Sometimes when we talk to our partners, discussions turn to talk of acquisition,” said CTO Joachim Ante. “Our response has always been that for Unity it is best to be an independent company.”
“The role we now have in the gaming industry has been noticed by other companies,” wrote Ante. “And today we have partnerships and collaborations with many of them.”
The CTO said that Unity’s partners have occasionally propositioned the company about a potential sale – but that “our response has always been that for Unity it is best to be an independent company”.
“This has been true for the last 10 years, it is equally true today,” said Ante. “So to sum it up: We have no plan to sell Unity.”
Ante spoke about Unity’s long-term aim to “democratise game development” by making its engine accessible to everyone. The unspoken implication being that a potential new owner might turn their back on that philosophy.
Unity has proven especially popular with indie developers. Last year, X-Com creator Julian Gollop told PCGamesN that we have cross-platform engines like Unity to thank for making games like Chaos Reborn “really possible”.
“I think Unity more than anything has really changed the landscape of gaming, because it has made this cross-platform development much, much more economical,” said Gollop. “I mean it’s staggering to people how much more easier it’s made it.”
What was the last Unity game you played? There’ll be more than you think.