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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Nov 9 2021, 11:09pm
Post #1 of 9
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Peter Jackson sells Weta Digital's tech unit for $2.3 billion
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Sir Peter Jackson has sold Weta Digital’s technology division to American 3D game-development platform Unity for $US1.625 billion, or $NZ 2.3 billion.
A Weta Digital spokesperson said ownership of the Visual Effects business was not changing, It would stay in Wellington and become WetaFX.
With about 1700 employees, WetaFX will still be under majority ownership by Jackson and helmed by chief executive Prem Akkaraju.
Jackson and Weta Digital artists will remain in New Zealand and Jackson will continue to make movies here.
Under the deal, Unity is obtaining the Weta Digital suite of VFX tools and technology and its team of 275 engineers, who will join Unity’s Create Solutions division.
At some point, Unity plans to make Weta Digital’s tools available to creators through a cloud-based workflow, with software-as-a-service pricing to be announced later.
Full story is here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/...-unit-for-23-billion
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Nov 10 2021, 1:09pm
Post #2 of 9
(1433 views)
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Wow! Give me a minute whilst I lift my jaw up off the floor.
What an incredible turn of events. It sounds like everything will be business as usual with Weta Digital tech unit... in a way... expanding to a more global reach with this change. I'm so glad everything will stay in place and that PJ will still have a hand in it; but WOW! Thanks so much for sharing this, Ataahua. Wow...
We have been there and back again.
Join the "Tolkien Fandom Oral History Project"
TIME Google Calendar
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Archestratie
Nargothrond
Nov 10 2021, 3:30pm
Post #3 of 9
(1429 views)
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Sir Peter Jackson has sold Weta Digital’s technology division to American 3D game-development platform Unity for $US1.625 billion, or $NZ 2.3 billion.
A Weta Digital spokesperson said ownership of the Visual Effects business was not changing, It would stay in Wellington and become WetaFX.
With about 1700 employees, WetaFX will still be under majority ownership by Jackson and helmed by chief executive Prem Akkaraju.
Jackson and Weta Digital artists will remain in New Zealand and Jackson will continue to make movies here.
Under the deal, Unity is obtaining the Weta Digital suite of VFX tools and technology and its team of 275 engineers, who will join Unity’s Create Solutions division.
At some point, Unity plans to make Weta Digital’s tools available to creators through a cloud-based workflow, with software-as-a-service pricing to be announced later. Full story is here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/...-unit-for-23-billion
I know a lot of gamers don't like the Unity engine, but it has been successful to date. I didn't know it had been successful enough to buy such a large stake in WETA, though.
My Low-Magic Fantasy Novel on eBook/hardback: The Huntsman and the She-Wolf
The Huntsman and the She-Wolf on audio Book.
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Nov 10 2021, 7:43pm
Post #4 of 9
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Can you explain a bit more about Unity?
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I have zero knowledge of the gaming industry. (I make a decision way back when to not get into gaming, knowing that if I did, I'd lose a lot of time to it - and I'd rather put that time into reading.) 
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Nov 11 2021, 12:45am
Post #5 of 9
(1405 views)
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Further news: Weta staff are getting a nice cash bonus from the sale
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Staff were told on Wednesday, about the same time the news of the sale went public, that they would get of bonuses amounting to one week’s salary for every year they had worked at the company continuously, according to multiple sources at Weta Digital.
Some highly-paid staff who have been with the company for a long period of time may receive as much $200,000 in bonuses, they said.
(That'll be in NZ $$)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/...fter-23-billion-sale
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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cats16
Gondolin
Nov 13 2021, 8:10am
Post #8 of 9
(1302 views)
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That the real "buyers" here are the venture capital firms that in turn own/invest heavily in Unity. You don't get that kind of money for this kind of purchase without some deep VC pockets.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Nov 13 2021, 8:21pm
Post #9 of 9
(1265 views)
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To the layman, the deal is about as comprehensible as Facebook’s move to become Meta and its founder Mark Zuckerberg’s talk about the Metaverse.
With 3D exploding in its applications and uses, not just in gaming or movie-making but in advertising, medical, scientific development and elsewhere, the attraction to Unity was the groundbreaking nature of Weta’s work.
“It’s the diamond of all diamonds of tools and technology, and frankly, great people that have built extraordinary capabilities around creating in 3D,” says Whitten.
The intellectual capital held by that creative genius has, till now, been held within the walls of Weta Digital.
Announcing the deal, Jackson said it would make available to anyone the tools that enabled Weta Digital to “bring to life the worlds and creatures that originally lived in our imaginations”.
It does so by effectively moving the technology to the cloud and able to be downloaded by virtually anyone - Whitten uses the example of a couple of kids in Africa equipped with nothing more than a cellphone making a billion-dollar video game.
Full story: https://www.stuff.co.nz/...ver-zoom-and-tequila
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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