On the scale of video games and cinema, Unity’s acquisition of Weta Digital is quite a gamble, but it is also an alliance that makes sense. The 3D development platform wants to influence the future of the metaverse.
Weta Digital is well known to movie theater lovers: created by Peter Jackson for the special effects needs of the movie trilogy. Lord of the Rings, the company has made itself indispensable in the film production sector. The surprise was therefore total when Unity announced the acquisition of a large part of Weta Digital!
The future of the metaverse
For $ 1.6 billion, the 3D development platform is dropping Weta’s production tools, technology and engineering talents into its purse. In other words, everything that has been closely involved in some of Hollywood’s biggest hits. This will allow Unity to better compete with its competitor Unreal, which is well armed.
The film special effects teams are grouped together in an autonomous entity, WetaFX, in which Peter Jackson owns a majority of the capital. The technologies developed over the years by Weta have irrigated the film industry of course, but also the video game industry. In fact, these tools are used more and more interchangeably in these two sectors.
Weta’s tools will now also be available to video game developers. This is promising for the future! And that’s not all. With this acquisition, Unity wants to position itself in the development of the metaverse, which will make enormous use of 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality. The future bricks of Unity and Weta could be essential to the foundations of these future universes.
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