Unity is paying $1.6B for the Weta Digital tools that created Gollum

Weta Digital is one of the most accomplished visual-effects teams in the world. And now Unity is acquiring Weta’s tools with the goal of putting them into the hands of artists around the world. This means game creators, filmmakers, and other artists will have access to a long list of powerful software for building digital characters, simulating the movement of smoke and light, and much more.

The team of artists at Weta will continue to work independently from Unity as the new WetaFX team. And that studio will now license its tools from Unity. But going forward, Unity will take on the task of marketing and productizing Weta’s core technologies. Unity is also bringing in Weta’s engineering team. Unity paid $1.62 billion in cash and stock.