{"id":1207116,"date":"2023-11-29T11:47:31","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T16:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1207116"},"modified":"2023-11-29T11:47:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T16:47:31","slug":"unity-lays-off-hundreds-of-weta-digital-engineers-as-it-pivots-back-to-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1207116","title":{"rendered":"Unity lays off hundreds of Weta Digital engineers as it pivots back to games"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"rss-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/unity-blow-up-800x450-1.jpg\" alt=\"Kaboom!\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\" style=\"font-size:0.8em\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/unity-blow-up.jpg\" class=\"enlarge-link\" data-height=\"1440\" data-width=\"2560\">Enlarge<\/a> <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> Kaboom! (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<div><a name=\"page-1\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Game engine-maker Unity has announced plans to lay off 265 workers\u2014or just under 4% of its roughly 7,000-person workforce\u2014as it winds down a partnership with special-effects house Weta Digital and refocuses on its core gaming business.<\/p>\n<p>Unity spent a cool $1.625 billion in cash and stock to purchase the tech division of the Peter Jackson-led Weta Digital <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2021\/11\/unity-purchases-weta-digitals-visual-effects-tool-suite-for-1-65-billion\/\">just over two years ago<\/a>, taking in 275 company engineers in the process. The vast majority of those engineers are now being let go as Unity has &#8220;terminated its obligations to provide certain services to Weta FX and also amended certain intellectual property rights between the parties,&#8221; according to <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/filing\/8066499?hasComeFromMpArticle=false\">a recent SEC filing<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/unity-software-cut-38-staff-company-reset-2023-11-28\/\">Reuters reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Weta Digital acquisition came as game engines like Unity and Unreal <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2020\/08\/epic-and-unity-rev-their-engines-for-the-next-era-of-entertainment\/\">were increasingly being embraced by Hollywood studios<\/a> as the basis for their digital-effects work. The deal was also part of <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/article\/4523350-unitys-acquisition-spree\">an expensive wave of corporate acquisitions<\/a> Unity undertook after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/09\/17\/unity-prices-ipo-above-range-at-52-valuing-company-at-13point7-billion.html\">its late 2020 IPO<\/a>. That buying spree included <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2021\/08\/game-engine-meet-game-streaming-unity-acquires-parsec-for-320m\/\">cloud gaming-service Parsec<\/a>, mobile ad giant <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2023\/10\/behind-the-scenes-of-unitys-rushed-out-install-fee-program\/\">Ironsource<\/a>, and 3D collaboration company <a href=\"https:\/\/syncsketch.com\/\">SyncSketch<\/a>, to name just a few.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1987073#p3\">Read 4 remaining paragraphs<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1987073&amp;comments=1\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nSource: Ars Technica &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1987073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unity lays off hundreds of Weta Digital engineers as it pivots back to games<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enlarge \/ Kaboom! (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images) Game engine-maker Unity has announced plans to lay off 265 workers\u2014or just under 4% of its roughly 7,000-person workforce\u2014as it winds down a partnership with special-effects house Weta Digital and refocuses &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1207116\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1207117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,110],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-1207116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-technica","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-ars-technica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1207116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1207117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1207116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1207116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1207116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}