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On Friday, Unity Software IPO’d on the New York Stock Exchange (with the ticker "U"). True to form, the company held a virtual bell-ringing experience with 3,300+ employees tuning in.
From basement to Pokémon Go
Unity started in a Copenhagen basement back in 2004. Now, 50% of all mobile, PC, and console games are created in Unity. In its S-1 filing, Unity said it provides game-making tools to 53% of the top 1,000 mobile companies and 94% of the largest game studios by revenue.
- Pokémon Go and Call of Duty: Mobile were built in Unity.
- Unity isn’t profitable yet.
Beyond gaming
Unity is more than a game engine proprietor, CMO Clive Downie told the Brew. The company also powers interactive 3D, VR, and AR content creation. It has over 60% market share in AR and VR content.
Many Fortune 500 companies “are very aware of the value of real-time 3D and [are] using it in the mainstream workplace,” he said. Unity’s customers hail from the automotive, architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and film/TV industries.
- One example: Downie said architects designing the tallest building in Brooklyn are using Unity Reflect to gather 3D data and make project adjustments in VR.
On the future of digital twins—i.e. recreating our physical world virtually—Downie said “The future is already here.” The Hong Kong International Airport is building a major extension. “Unity powers a digital twin for that, and it does it today.”
Who’s the competition?
I’d tell you Unreal Engine from Epic Games, which is duking it out in court with Apple right now, or Roblox. But Downie said Unity’s biggest competitor is “first-party technologies”—companies building in-house tools—as the company moves more into the AAA space.
The endgame: “We believe all the digital creators around the world will at some point need our real-time 3D technology,” Downie said. Unity plans for that to be platform- and media-agnostic, because as long as creators use its tools, the company will grow.