Unity has purchased Multiplay’s Digital business unit in a deal worth £19 million, acquiring it from GAME.
The digital unit of Multiplay hosts multiplayer servers for an array of games where their developers are unable to do so otherwise. Games include Day Z, Rust, Titanfall 2 and Rocket League to name a few.
The deal will see Unity pay £17.1 million upfront, and £1.9 million in 19 months. The company is is acquiring made sales of £4.5 million in the last financial year which represents significant growth on the £2.1 million previously recorded, but still made a loss of £800,000 due to technology improvements.
GAME will continue to hold the events business and associated IP, including popular UK event Insomnia going forward. The Multiplay brand will continue to operate under the same name, and as a result the esports and events side will now operate under the “Insomnia” name rather than previous Multiplay.
“The team at Multiplay have created scalable multiplayer technology that gives all game creators, from indies to AAA studios, the ability to create performant experiences that can serve hundreds of thousands of players at once,” said John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity Technologies. “We welcome the Multiplay team to the Unity family.”
“Multiplay is thrilled to be joining Unity for what will be an exciting new chapter,” said Paul Manuel, Managing Director of Multiplay. “It’s a great fit because like Unity, it’s in our core to solve hard problems so game developers don’t have to. This deal will let us bring scalable AAA quality server technology and infrastructure to a much wider audience.”
Esports Insider says: Congratulations to both parties on what looks a very sensible and comfortable fit for the two. We’re glad GAME have held Insomnia and the esports side as BEYOND continues to shape up into something great.