Venture-backed Unity to acquire Digital Monarch Media

Unity Technologies, a San Francisco-based real-time 3D development platform, has agreed to acquire Digital Monarch Media (DMM), a Vancouver-based virtual cinematography company.

No financial terms were released for the deal, which includes the proprietary technology DMM built on Unity to develop virtual cinematography for feature filmmaking.

DMM CEO Wes Potter and CCO Habib Zargarpour, who founded the company in 2014, will join Unity’s film group.

Launched in 2003, Unity is backed by Draper Fisher Jurveston, Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake Partners and other investors.

PRESS RELEASE

Unity Technologies to Acquire Digital Monarch Media to Pioneer the Next Generation of Real-Time Filmmaking

Innovators harness the power of real-time to bring control and immediacy to the VFX pipelines for blockbuster films like “Ready Player One,” “Blade Runner 2049”

October 23, 2018

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Unity Technologies (https://unity3d.com/), creator of the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform, announced today that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Digital Monarch Media (DMM) (https://digitalmonarch.media/) and the proprietary technology it built on Unity to pioneer virtual cinematography for feature films. Under the terms of this acquisition, the team at DMM and co-founders Wes Potter and BAFTA winner and Academy Award Nominee, Habib Zargarpour, will join Unity’s dedicated film group, deepening the company’s in-house subject-matter expertise. They will report into Unity’s Chief Revenue Officer, Dave Rhodes.

The DMM acquisition, combined with Unity’s extensibility and community, are keys to enabling the evolution of film production workflows, further driving Unity’s mission to enable success for creators in film. The acquisition adds to Unity’s commitment in bringing real-time filmmaking to animation with recent projects like the “Baymax Dreams” shorts in Disney Television Animation’s “Big Hero 6 The Series,” Neill Blomkamp’s “ADAM: Episode 2” and “Crow: The Legend” from Baobab Studios.

“Digital Monarch Media shares Unity’s vision of using real-time to empower creativity with powerful new tools at the cutting edge of technology,” said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, Unity Technologies. “Today’s blockbuster movies have upwards of 1000-2000 VFX shots, and the current processes are time-consuming. Now that Unity is on set with the world’s most renowned directors, we can bring the benefits of virtual cinematography to more creators and put control back into the filmmakers’ hands.”

Potter and Zargarpour’s backgrounds working in games (“Need for Speed” franchise, “James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing”) and film (“Twister”, “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace”) inspired them to use the instant responsiveness of Unity’s real-time technology to speed up the VFX pipeline for films. Together, they created Expozure, a virtual cinematography platform that has been used by Steven Spielberg (“Ready Player One”), Denis Villeneuve (“Blade Runner 2049”) and Jon Favreau (“The Jungle Book”). DMM’s workflows enable directors and their teams to shoot live action on-set while also seeing and manipulating digital environments and actors in real-time. Responding to inspiration and feedback in the moment allows for faster iteration and ultimately a final project that is closer to the director’s vision.

“Our goal at Digital Monarch Media has always been to put the camera back into the hands of the director,” said Wes Potter, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Monarch Media. “Using Unity’s technology has provided the adaptability and power to make adjustments in our technology quickly and easily and meet the needs of major productions. We are excited to continue that work from within Unity.”

Unity exists to democratize development, solve hard problems and enable success — three core values that are the driving forces of Unity’s adoption by millions of creators. Games and experiences made with Unity have reached more than 3 billion devices worldwide this year and were installed more than 28 billion times in the last 12 months. Unity is committed to enabling success and solving hard problems for all its customers and to the future of real-time filmmaking.

About Unity Technologies

Unity is the creator of the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform, giving developers around the world the tools to create rich, interactive 2D, 3D, VR and AR experiences. The company’s 800 person engineering team keeps Unity at the bleeding-edge of technology by working alongside partners such as Google, Facebook, Oculus and Microsoft to ensure optimized support for the latest releases and platforms. Games and experiences made with Unity have reached ~3 billion devices worldwide and were installed more than 28 billion times in the last 12 months. Unity’s renowned flexibility gives developers the power to target and optimize their creations for 25+ platforms including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Gameroom (Facebook), SteamVR (PC & Mac), Oculus, PSVR, Gear VR, HoloLens, ARKit (Apple), ARCore (Google) and more. Unity also offers solutions and services for connecting with audiences including Unity Ads, Unity Analytics, Unity Asset Store, Unity Cloud Build, Unity Collaborate, Unity Connect and Unity Certification.

For more information, visit www.unity3d.com and to see the latest games and experiences created in Unity, go to https://unity.com/madewith.

Contacts
Unity PR
Amanda Taggart, 310-980-9587
amandat@unity3d.com
or
Charlie Sinhaseni, 909-657-8394
charliesin@unity3d.com