Video game engine creator Unity Technologies wants to go public next year, according to a report on streaming financial news network Cheddar.
The company plans to do its initial public offering during the first half of 2020, as long as market conditions are favorable, anonymous sources told the network.
Unity is a real-time 3D development platform used to create interactive 2D, 3D, VR, and AR experiences. Games created with Unity reach nearly three billion devices worldwide and were installed 24 billion times in the last 12 months, according to its website. BTIG analyst Brandon Ross told Cheddar the company’s IPO will give investors a chance to participate in the overall growth of the video game industry without having to choose a winner among the various publishers. He added that knowledge about game engines like Unity has risen in recent months among investors thanks to the success of Epic Games, creator of the Unreal engine and the massively popular battle royale title “Fortnite.”
“We believe they have strategic value to some of the tech companies that might be looking to get deeper into games,” Ross said.
A Unity spokesperson told Cheddar it doesn’t comment on IPO rumors or speculation.
Unity Technologies raised about $400 million in investor funding from Silver Lake Partners in 2017. At the time, Bloomberg estimated it was worth about $2.6 billion.
The company announced last month it was acquiring Vivox, a cross-platform voice and text communications platform that’s been integrated into more than 125 games. It has over 100 million monthly active users.
