Unity‘s proposed merger with ironSource has formally concluded, with the two companies coming together to create an end-to-end platform for developers to build and monetize games.
Unity, which is best known for its eponymous general-purpose game engine, and ironSource, an adtech company that serves developers with tools for integrating ads, cross-channel marketing and more, first announced plans to join forces in a $4.4 billion all-stock deal back in July.
The two publicly traded companies had seen their stocks fall by around 75% and 50% respectively through 2022 until July, and their decision to merge was driven somewhat by the economic downturn, but also — as at least one analyst pointed out — by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework which rolled out last year. Both Unity and ironSource rely on developers buying advertising to garner new users, and ATT created friction on that front, so by pooling their collective resources, this goes some way toward addressing their respective declines.
“The driving force behind this industry-changing merger is to create more value for developers across the entire development journey,” ironSource CEO Tomer Bar-Zeev said in a press release. “We are very excited about the road ahead as we begin integrating our product portfolios more deeply and strengthening the feedback loop between creating great games and growing them into successful businesses. In doing so, we’ll be able to create a world where more creators are more successful than ever before.”
It’s worth noting that in the intervening weeks since Unity and ironSource first announced their plans, AppLovin entered the conversation in a big way when it tabled a $20 billion offer for Unity, on the condition that Unity ended plans to merge with AppLovin’s rival, ironSource. After consideration, Unity ultimately rejected that offer, with its board noting that AppLovin’s offer wasn’t a “superior proposal.”
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