On 1 December 2021 PST, the deal with Unity to acquire Weta Digital’s tools, pipeline, and engineering talent was finalised. We are excited that our previously exclusive proprietary tools will now be shared with the world.
The deal means the Weta Digital brand, as well as our tools and engineering team, will shift to Unity. Our VFX business will pick up our new Weta FX identity in the new year—until then, we will continue to share the VFX work and insights you know and love right here.
You can read more in the press release below:
Unity Completes Acquisition of Weta Digital’s Tools, Pipeline, and Engineering Talent
Closed transaction marks the beginning of democratizing Weta Digital’s exclusive tools for millions of creators and artists
SAN FRANCISCO, December, 1 2021 -- Unity (NYSE: U), the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Weta Digital’s tools, pipeline, technology, and engineering talent. This acquisition is designed to empower the growing number of game developers, artists, and potentially millions of consumer creators with highly sophisticated content creation tools used in some of the world’s most iconic movies and television shows, such as Avatar, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, The Suicide Squad, and more.
In addition to acquiring dozens of industry-leading tools, a foundational data platform for interoperable 3D art creation, and a library of thousands of incredible assets that the WetaFX team will continue to evolve, Unity welcomes Weta Digital’s world-class engineering talent of 275 engineers that are known for architecting, building, and maintaining Weta Digital tools and core pipeline.
“We are thrilled to officially welcome Weta Digital’s highly talented engineering team to Unity and to begin the journey of integrating two powerhouse technologies,” said Marc Whitten, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Create Solutions at Unity. “By bringing this team and technology to Unity, we can enable more storytellers to reach their creative potential by giving them access to the diamonds of all diamonds of VFX tools, underpinned by the power of real-time 3D.”
Weta Digital’s Academy Award-Winning VFX teams will continue as a standalone entity known as WetaFX under majority ownership by Sir Peter Jackson and helmed by CEO Prem Akkaraju.
“I know Weta Digital’s journey with Unity has just begun and I’m more confident than ever that Unity is the company to take this technology to a broader market,” said Prem Akkaraju, CEO of WetaFX and now former CEO of Weta Digital. “The decision to make our tools accessible to the wider market was ultimately driven by our goal of inspiring other creators. WetaFX is Jimi Hendrix, and we know enabling more artists to play, we’ll see the world has many, many more Jimi Hendrixes.”
The transaction closed on December 1, 2021 and under the terms of the agreement, Unity acquired Weta Digital’s tools, pipeline, technology, and engineering talent for US$1.625B in a combination of cash and stock. Unity will not be relocating the new employees with this acquisition and remains supportive and committed to Wellington, New Zealand.
Media contacts
Marisa Graves
Unity Communications
Mara Buxbaum
ID (Weta Digital)