Unity have just acquired another company, Parsec, makers of high performance remote desktop and gaming software. This is just on of several acquisitions Unity have made, previous purchases including the likes of ChilliConnect, SpeedTree (IDV), Codice Software and Artomatix and it sounds like more acquisitions are on the horizon. Parsec’s primary product enables creative professionals to remotely access their machines at full resolution at 60FPS, while retaining functionality like pressure sensitive tablet support. They also make it possible for gamers to access their computer from lesser or mobile devices and play games at full speed. Finally they also license the technology underpinning all of this, which I assume would be immediately useful to the Unity engine developers.
The full press release from Unity:
SAN FRANCISCO, August 10, 2021 — Unity (NYSE: U), the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the high performance remote desktop and streaming technology company, Parsec, which allows gaming and creative professionals to work together from anywhere. This transaction is an important step toward Parsec’s and Unity’s expanded cloud vision: that creators should expect to be able to work from any location, on any device through rich and powerful tools and seamless cloud infrastructure to deliver the real-time 3D experiences of the future.
Under the terms of the agreement, Unity will acquire Parsec for approximately US$320 million in cash. The proposed acquisition is expected to close during Unity’s third quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions.
The work of game development and creative professionals is high fidelity, interactive and immersive, and only getting more complex as creators shift to RT3D. With companies and their employees transitioning to hybrid working and collaboration models, Parsec allows creators to be untethered from the office by meeting the unique requirements to support this level of performance processing no matter the location, device or platform. This means delivering low latency, ultra-high definition desktop streaming (at 4k pixels/60 frames per second) while providing rich detail with the same sampling rate for all images, such as 4:4:4 color space. Additionally, Parsec offers the privacy, security, quality of life and management tools needed for companies to support fleets of computing resources for all of their creators.
“In the past year, companies and their employees have been collaborating and working together in fundamentally different ways,” said Marc Whitten, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Create Solutions at Unity. “With the workplace becoming more flexible, teams expanding and collaborating across multiple locations and creators leveraging a myriad of new devices, it’s clear that the creative process will evolve from on premise devices to flexible and cost effective cloud architectures. Parsec has addressed the unique requirements to support this type of high-performance processing no matter where creators are, showcasing technology that is both highly innovative and prescient. We believe Parsec is a rocketship and we’re very excited to support their future growth.”
“When Chris Dickson and I started Parsec, we believed Parsec’s ultra-low latency streaming technology could allow anyone in the world to remotely interact with real-time 3D content,” said Benjy Boxer, Parsec’s CEO and co-founder. “In the past year, Parsec has empowered the world’s most inspiring and creative companies to freely work and play from anywhere, on any device, on their own terms. We’re thrilled to partner with Unity, where we can offer even more creators this same kind of liberating access to content and technology.”
As a result of their unique capabilities and the shift to new ways of working, Parsec’s Parsec for Teams subscription business is growing by 170% year-over-year with aggressive plans to accelerate even further next year. Subscription growth is driven by a strong net dollar expansion rate of nearly 200%, a loyal customer base, and strong profitability.
Parsec has become a go-to solution for hybrid work models among gaming companies such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Square Enix and is integrated in many of the industry verticals where Unity sells solutions, including media and entertainment, architecture and design, and more. Together, Unity sees an opportunity to drive shared momentum with these customers through targeted cross-selling and bundled solutions.
About Parsec
Founded in 2016 by CTO Chris Dickson and CEO Benjy Boxer, Parsec delivers a best-in-class high frame rate, low-latency remote desktop experience. The Parsec app is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Raspberry Pi and the web, and Parsec’s SDK allows its streaming technology to be leveraged across any platform.
About Unity Unity (NYSE: U) is the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content. Creators, ranging from game developers to artists, architects, automotive designers, filmmakers, and others, use Unity to make their imaginations come to life. Unity’s platform provides a comprehensive set of software solutions to create, run and monetize interactive, real-time 2D and 3D content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and augmented and virtual reality devices. The company’s 1,800+ person research and development team keeps Unity at the forefront of development by working alongside partners to ensure optimized support for the latest releases and platforms. Apps developed by Unity creators were downloaded more than five billion times per month in 2020.
From a related TechCrunch article, there is indication that Unity intends to acquire other companies, specifically cloud base companies:
Whitten also alluded to this being the beginning of a deeper cloud push for Unity: “I think you’re gonna see that Parsec is a great foundational block for a broad sort of cloud ambition that we have as a company,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot more from us in that particular regards.”
You can learn more about Unity acquiring Parsec in the video below.