Reuters reports that discussions have taken place regarding a potential acquisition of Unity Software Inc.—known for its game engine “Unity”—by the U.S. investment firm “Silver Lake” and the Saudi Arabian government-backed fund “PIF (Public Investment Fund).”
Valued at approximately $25 billion… Could Unity Be Next in Line After the EA Acquisition?
According to Reuters, Silver Lake and PIF—which together hold about 8% of Unity’s shares—have been in discussions and have been in contact regarding a potential acquisition over the past few weeks.
Unity has just announced its third-quarter financial results, reporting total revenue of $622 million, a 32% increase year-over-year.The company reported its first quarterly profit on a GAAP basis since going public. In particular, “Vector,” an AI-powered advertising platform, saw rapid growth with a 126% year-over-year increase, serving as a major driver of the company’s return to profitability.
The reports indicate that Unity’s valuation in the discussions amounts to approximately $25 billion (about 3.8 trillion yen), and following the news, the company’s stock price rose by 4%. Additionally, according to sources, Unity is reportedly working with investment banks to explore its options in response to this proposal.No agreement has been finalized yet, and the plans and terms are subject to change.
As for acquisitions led by PIF and Silver Lake, the acquisition of Electronic Arts—which was officially completed in August 2026—is still fresh in our memories.The EA acquisition was carried out by PIF, Silver Lake, and an investor group called “Affinity Partners”—founded by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Trump—and totaled $55 billion (over 8 trillion yen).
Scopely, the developer of “Monopoly GO!”, and Niantic, the developer and operator of “Pokémon GO”, are currently under the umbrella of this investment group.Reuters pointed out the deep ties between this investment group and Unity, noting that both companies use the Unity game engine and that Silver Lake invested $400 million in Unity in 2017.
Furthermore, if the acquisition goes through, it could raise concerns regarding changes to Unity’s operational policies and pricing structure. In the past, Unity attempted to introduce a “Runtime Fee”—a usage fee based on the number of installations—for Unity-developed games exceeding a certain scale, but withdrew the plan following fierce backlash.
Unity is garnering attention not only for the latest version of “Unity 7” but also for “Unity Spark” and “Playground”—AI-powered development environments created in partnership with Google. Since Unity is widely adopted by independent developers, it will be interesting to see what impact a potential acquisition would have on the industry and developers, and to watch for future developments.
