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For people wondering what happens with the ironSource deal, this bid is meant to derail it. This is AppLovin playing offense to avoid the emergence of a strong

For people wondering what happens with the ironSource deal, this bid is meant to derail it. This is AppLovin playing offense to avoid the emergence of a stronger competitor and instead become that stronger competitor. Unity is not as strong in monetization technologies but it’s a desired asset since it has already a foot in with game developers. Unfortunately building a game engine is not as profitable as building adware. I guess Zuckerberg’s idea to buy Unity at certain point doesn’t sound that bad now. Clearly he wanted it for the game engine technology and not to build another ad revenue source. Kind of ironic how things play out in the long term.

seanalltogether 4y ago
This makes more sense. I had not heard of AppLovin until this post, but it seems clear from their solutions that a majority of their revenue comes from providing ads in games, or providing ad campaigns to those wanting to promote a game they built. And with Unity merging with ironSource that could sink a lot of their revenue.
tjoff 4y ago
> I guess Zuckerberg’s idea to buy Unity at certain point doesn’t sound that bad now. Clearly he wanted it for the game engine technology and not to build another ad revenue source. Kind of ironic how things play out in the long term. Not sure I follow that logic.
- whoisjuan 4y ago
  There are some Zuckerberg emails exposed as part of some subpoena process where he describes why Unity was a valuable asset to build Meta's AR/VR business. He goes on a lengthy argument about why owning Unity will create a value flywheel that could accelerate Meta's business by doubling down on Unity's engine as a core technology for building games and other AR/VR experiences: https://sriramk.com/memos/zuck-unity.pdf https://sriramk.com/memos/zuck-unity.pdf We don't know what would have been the outcome since this never happened, but he saw Unity as a valuable core technology, so is reasonable to assume (whether you like Zuck or not) that Meta would have probably invested some serious money in making Unity (the engine) better. Now that we are past that, we are looking at a company that can't grow its game engine business anymore, so they have started to invest in app/game monetization. But likely at the expense of being less focused on improving the game engine. So the logic here is that Unity under Zuck (who is ironically the king of ad revenue models) would likely have thrived as a game engine. Instead, Unity as an independent company is now seen as nothing else than adware leverage.
  - hesdeadjim 4y ago
    I would 1000% live in a world where Facebook bought Unity. Ignoring how shitty they are otherwise, they could let Unity be Unity and remove the distraction of monetization from a game engine company. Alas, Unity leadership (CEO) had delusions of world domination and here is where they find themselves. I’m sure Facebook even made a prelim offer behind the scenes and Unity scoffed because they thought they would be a $50b company.
    - dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago
      > they could let Unity be Unity Some Oculus users would disagree with you.
      - chresko 4y ago
        As much as gamers critique Meta's handling of Oculus, Oculus would be dead/gone by now if not for the acquisition. Meta has been dumping fuel/cash on Oculus to keep VR alive and the VR experience has mostly improved over the years.
        pavlov 4y ago
        Yeah, there's no way the Quest would even exist if it wasn't for Meta's multi-billion VR money bonfire. The whole industry would be poorer without an affordable standalone roomscale VR unit. An independent, gaming-centric Oculus probably wouldn't have survived 2016 when HTC Vive shipped a much more advanced product than the Rift.
    - tmpz22 4y ago
      > they could let Unity be Unity Like they let whatsapp be whatsapp and instagram be instagram? With current market incentives we should expect these companies to become less benevolent, not more.
      - celtain 4y ago
        I'm far from a frequent user of either, but Instagram and especially WhatsApp don't seem to have suffered terribly under Facebook. Instagram has obviously changed, but it would have changed as an independent app too. What's particularly "Facebooky" about its evolution? WhatsApp feels exactly the same to me. Do I just have a short memory?
tdeck 4y ago
This comment somewhat understates the importance of Unity. It's used in something like 1/3 of all mobile games, at least on Android. It has much more than a foot in the door.
smegsicle 4y ago
>the ironSource deal Unity merges with IronSource 397 points 27 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32081051 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32081051

seanalltogether 4y ago

This makes more sense. I had not heard of AppLovin until this post, but it seems clear from their solutions that a majority of their revenue comes from providing ads in games, or providing ad campaigns to those wanting to promote a game they built. And with Unity merging with ironSource that could sink a lot of their revenue.

tjoff 4y ago

> I guess Zuckerberg’s idea to buy Unity at certain point doesn’t sound that bad now. Clearly he wanted it for the game engine technology and not to build another ad revenue source. Kind of ironic how things play out in the long term. Not sure I follow that logic.

whoisjuan 4y ago
There are some Zuckerberg emails exposed as part of some subpoena process where he describes why Unity was a valuable asset to build Meta's AR/VR business. He goes on a lengthy argument about why owning Unity will create a value flywheel that could accelerate Meta's business by doubling down on Unity's engine as a core technology for building games and other AR/VR experiences: https://sriramk.com/memos/zuck-unity.pdf https://sriramk.com/memos/zuck-unity.pdf We don't know what would have been the outcome since this never happened, but he saw Unity as a valuable core technology, so is reasonable to assume (whether you like Zuck or not) that Meta would have probably invested some serious money in making Unity (the engine) better. Now that we are past that, we are looking at a company that can't grow its game engine business anymore, so they have started to invest in app/game monetization. But likely at the expense of being less focused on improving the game engine. So the logic here is that Unity under Zuck (who is ironically the king of ad revenue models) would likely have thrived as a game engine. Instead, Unity as an independent company is now seen as nothing else than adware leverage.
- hesdeadjim 4y ago
  I would 1000% live in a world where Facebook bought Unity. Ignoring how shitty they are otherwise, they could let Unity be Unity and remove the distraction of monetization from a game engine company. Alas, Unity leadership (CEO) had delusions of world domination and here is where they find themselves. I’m sure Facebook even made a prelim offer behind the scenes and Unity scoffed because they thought they would be a $50b company.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago
    > they could let Unity be Unity Some Oculus users would disagree with you.
    - chresko 4y ago
      As much as gamers critique Meta's handling of Oculus, Oculus would be dead/gone by now if not for the acquisition. Meta has been dumping fuel/cash on Oculus to keep VR alive and the VR experience has mostly improved over the years.
      - pavlov 4y ago
        Yeah, there's no way the Quest would even exist if it wasn't for Meta's multi-billion VR money bonfire. The whole industry would be poorer without an affordable standalone roomscale VR unit. An independent, gaming-centric Oculus probably wouldn't have survived 2016 when HTC Vive shipped a much more advanced product than the Rift.
  - tmpz22 4y ago
    > they could let Unity be Unity Like they let whatsapp be whatsapp and instagram be instagram? With current market incentives we should expect these companies to become less benevolent, not more.
    - celtain 4y ago
      I'm far from a frequent user of either, but Instagram and especially WhatsApp don't seem to have suffered terribly under Facebook. Instagram has obviously changed, but it would have changed as an independent app too. What's particularly "Facebooky" about its evolution? WhatsApp feels exactly the same to me. Do I just have a short memory?

tdeck 4y ago

This comment somewhat understates the importance of Unity. It's used in something like 1/3 of all mobile games, at least on Android. It has much more than a foot in the door.

smegsicle 4y ago

>the ironSource deal Unity merges with IronSource 397 points 27 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32081051 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32081051