Unity 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 $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.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 rocket ship and we’re very excited to support their future growth,” said Unity senior vice president and general manager, create solutions Marc Whitten.
“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. 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,” said Parsec CEO and co-founder Benjy Boxer.
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 per cent 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 per cent, 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.
