Tech Firm Unity Acquires Peter Jackson's Weta for $1.62 Billion

Tech firm Unity has decided to purchase Peter Jackson's Weta Digital for $1.62 billion.

Of course, Weta is the place behind the effects for Avatar, The Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, and many more. Unity makes the Unity Real-Time game engine, which creates virtual tools to bring worlds to life. 

In a statement, Jackson said, “Weta Digital’s tools created unlimited possibilities for us to bring to life the worlds and creatures that originally lived in our imaginations. Together, Unity and Weta Digital can create a pathway for any artist, from any industry, to be able to leverage these incredibly creative and powerful tools. Offering aspiring creatives access to Weta Digital’s technology will be nothing short of game-changing, and Unity is just the company to bring this vision to life.”

 Unity President and CEO John Riccitiello released his own statement, saying, “We are thrilled to democratize these industry-leading tools and bring the genius of Sir Peter Jackson and Weta’s amazing engineering talent to life for artists everywhere."

This conjunction of both these companies shows just another step of how artistic worlds are colliding.

Video games are getting incredibly photorealistic and movies are adding so much VFX that they're close to becoming the same industry. Not literally, but you know what I mean. Now, these tech houses need to service both growing industries to have more work and opportunities. It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. 

Let us know what you think in the comments.