Peter Jackson sells his visual effects company to Unity for $1.6 billion

The visual effects business co-founded by Oscar-winning director Sir Peter Jackson in New Zealand has been sold for $1.6 billion (£1.2 billion).

Weta Digital, which has worked on films such as Lord of the Rings and Avatar, has been acquired by Unity, a video game software company. Games like Pokémon Go and Call of Duty: Mobile use Unity’s technology.

According to the companies, the merger will democratise Weta’s special effects technologies.

Sir Peter said in a statement, “Together, Unity and Weta Digital can offer a road for any artist, from any field, to be able to harness these tremendously creative and powerful tools.”

Sir Peter co-founded Weta in 1993, and it is most known for creating animated characters like Neyriti from Avatar, Gollum from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and Caesar from Planet of the Apes.

The company will be divided up as part of the sale, with its technological assets being transferred to Unity as Weta Digital. WetaFX, the company’s visual effects division, will continue to exist as a distinct entity, and is likely to become one of Unity’s top customers.

Unity said in a statement that it will “bring Weta’s very rare and advanced visual effects capabilities into the hands of millions of creators and artists across the world,” giving them the ability to define the metaverse’s future.

After Facebook announced last month that it would change its name to Meta to better represent its new focus on connecting users through augmented and virtual reality, the word metaverse has gained traction in recent weeks.

“This is a really exciting deal. They’ll be able to provide filmmakers access to this technology. It’ll be a game-changer for the creative community all across the world,” Mr Fletcher remarked.

Unity’s stock dropped more than 6% in extended trading on the New York Stock Exchange after the news of the cash-and-stock acquisition.