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> Mobile game display ads seem like a very, very low value business to be in Might be much less prestigious than selling games that aren't predatory, but Unity

by belval 3y ago

> Mobile game display ads seem like a very, very low value business to be in Might be much less prestigious than selling games that aren't predatory, but Unity does in fact make a lot more money from selling ads in mobile games than licensing and by a very wide margin. The sad truth is that for every "real gamer", there are 10+ regular mom and pop playing candy crush and buying boosts every other day. > Create Solutions (Game engine) second quarter revenue of $193 million was up 17% year-over-year. > Grow Solutions (Ads) revenue of $340 million was up 157% year-over-year And an even better exerpt: > This quarter we partnered with one of the leading dating apps in the world, Tinder, to power their video ad monetization. Expanding beyond games is part of our goal of providing the most comprehensive platform for the App Economy, adding value to customers. Customers are not players here, they are the companies using Unity.

cratermoon 3y ago
So Unity is a digital ad company that gives away a game engine, or sells it at a loss, as a way to sell ads targeted based on what they know about the people playing the game. Ad revenue is in decline across the whole industry, so now Unity is looking to get a bigger slice of the pie by displacing AppLovin as the data harvester/ad provider Aside: I wonder how much user data Unity-based games harvest from mobile devices. This may shed some much-needed light on privacy, advertising and mobile games.
- sitzkrieg 3y ago
  they really always have been when you think about it. shame about the engine being a causality of war
- ganglandfee 3y ago
  [flagged]
squeaky-clean 3y ago
I wish they'd go the way of Epic and make an actual game with their engine. Maybe they could make some extra income if they made anything good. They've tried a few times and given up each time. It's pretty embarrassing when they've done things like released a fully featured multiplayer FPS demo that doesn't actually work out of the box and has a custom editor tool manager, custom scene loader, and custom networking layer that were never merged into mainline unity. Meanwhile they still have no official stable networking module. The old functional one was sunset and the new ones are still in beta. https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/FPSSample https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/FPSSample > This project is based on Unity 2018.3 > NOTE: Due to a bug in Unity 2018.3, you have to take the following step right after the initial import: 1 Search for Firstperson_Projection in the Project search field. Select the 4 shaders, right click and reimport them. 2 If you have script compile errors related to entities, you need to remove and re-install the entities package. > One day soon we will remove this note and there will be cake. > Once the editor is ready, open the Project Tools Window by navigating to FPS Sample > Windows > Project tools. > Keep this window docked as you will use it a lot. From here you can open the levels, build assetbundles and build standalone players. https://github.com/UnityTechnologies/open-project-1 https://github.com/UnityTechnologies/open-project-1 > Note: As of December 2021, Open Projects and Chop Chop are not in development anymore.
- akhosravian 3y ago
  Unity does make games, but they are codeveloped with external studios and not branded as being made by Unity. There was a fear in upper management of labeling these projects as having been made by Unity because customers might perceive Unity as competing with them. These services are still referenced obliquely on Unity’s public website: https://unity.com/solutions/accelerate-solutions-games https://unity.com/solutions/accelerate-solutions-games (check the FAQ for a question about IP ownership with Unity doing “full development”)
turquoisevar 3y ago
While $340 million is nothing to sneeze at it would only make up 18% of Unity’s revenue if that’s what they’d make off of ads. Which makes me wonder where the rest of their revenue comes from, but I’m too lazy right now to go through their financial statements to find out.
- belval 3y ago
  The $340 million is from the last quarter, you were probably looking at yearly revenue.
  - turquoisevar 3y ago
    I was looking at yearly revenue and I assumed you were talking about yearly revenue as well, point taken.

by belval 3y ago

cratermoon 3y ago

So Unity is a digital ad company that gives away a game engine, or sells it at a loss, as a way to sell ads targeted based on what they know about the people playing the game. Ad revenue is in decline across the whole industry, so now Unity is looking to get a bigger slice of the pie by displacing AppLovin as the data harvester/ad provider Aside: I wonder how much user data Unity-based games harvest from mobile devices. This may shed some much-needed light on privacy, advertising and mobile games.

sitzkrieg 3y ago
they really always have been when you think about it. shame about the engine being a causality of war
ganglandfee 3y ago
[flagged]

squeaky-clean 3y ago

I wish they'd go the way of Epic and make an actual game with their engine. Maybe they could make some extra income if they made anything good. They've tried a few times and given up each time. It's pretty embarrassing when they've done things like released a fully featured multiplayer FPS demo that doesn't actually work out of the box and has a custom editor tool manager, custom scene loader, and custom networking layer that were never merged into mainline unity. Meanwhile they still have no official stable networking module. The old functional one was sunset and the new ones are still in beta. https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/FPSSample https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/FPSSample > This project is based on Unity 2018.3 > NOTE: Due to a bug in Unity 2018.3, you have to take the following step right after the initial import: 1 Search for Firstperson_Projection in the Project search field. Select the 4 shaders, right click and reimport them. 2 If you have script compile errors related to entities, you need to remove and re-install the entities package. > One day soon we will remove this note and there will be cake. > Once the editor is ready, open the Project Tools Window by navigating to FPS Sample > Windows > Project tools. > Keep this window docked as you will use it a lot. From here you can open the levels, build assetbundles and build standalone players. https://github.com/UnityTechnologies/open-project-1 https://github.com/UnityTechnologies/open-project-1 > Note: As of December 2021, Open Projects and Chop Chop are not in development anymore.

akhosravian 3y ago
Unity does make games, but they are codeveloped with external studios and not branded as being made by Unity. There was a fear in upper management of labeling these projects as having been made by Unity because customers might perceive Unity as competing with them. These services are still referenced obliquely on Unity’s public website: https://unity.com/solutions/accelerate-solutions-games https://unity.com/solutions/accelerate-solutions-games (check the FAQ for a question about IP ownership with Unity doing “full development”)

turquoisevar 3y ago

While $340 million is nothing to sneeze at it would only make up 18% of Unity’s revenue if that’s what they’d make off of ads. Which makes me wonder where the rest of their revenue comes from, but I’m too lazy right now to go through their financial statements to find out.

belval 3y ago
The $340 million is from the last quarter, you were probably looking at yearly revenue.
- turquoisevar 3y ago
  I was looking at yearly revenue and I assumed you were talking about yearly revenue as well, point taken.