Unity and ironSource have finalised their merger, which was initially announced in July. The merger gives Unity developers access to ironSource’s suite of services, including advertising mediation platform LevelPlay.
The merger caused waves throughout the gaming industry and kicked off a veritable battle of the brands when ironSource competitor AppLovin attempted to acquire Unity, in a move which was seen by some industry experts as an attempt to maintain their own market share. The deal would have seen Unity CEO John Riccitiello become the CEO of the now combined entity, while AppLovin’s existing shareholders would receive a narrow majority in terms of votes.
As a condition of AppLovin’s offer, Unity would have been required to abandon its planned merger with ironSource, however Unity reaffirmed its commitment to the planned deal. Although several experts noted that AppLovin was in a position to up their offer if necessary, the company declined to do so, letting the merger proceed unimpeded.
What changes are coming to the platforms?
Although the merger has been finalised, Unity senior vice president told Gamedeveloper.com that “no immediate changes” will occur. “It’s more about these two awesome sets of people that are really focused on the same thing, which is game creators’ success,” he stated.
ironSource CEO Tomar Bar-zeev stated that the core goal of the merger is to “create more value for developers across the entire development journey.”
With the merger complete, Bar-zeev is joining Unity’s board of directors, alongside ironSource executives David Kostman and Shlomo Dovrat.
AppLovin has yet to comment on the closure of the deal. When announcing that the company would abandon its efforts to acquire Unity, CEO Adam Foroughi said “#Our experienced and dedicated team will continue to focus on what we can control, including continual improvements to our products and technology and expanding into newer high-growth markets.”
However, given that Unity is the platform of choice for around 70 percent of mobile developers, it’s possible that the company could see some effects in the future as game makers take advantage of the integration of ironSource’s technology into the platform.
This article was first published on PocketGamer.biz.
Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.
