Social media titan Facebook announced that it will be acquiring Unit 2 Games, the mind behind free-to-play game creation tool Crayta. Like other platforms out there, Unit 2 Games builds on top of the ‘Unreal Engine’ and gives its users a much simpler interface for creation along with community and discovery features.
Based in Leamington Spa, Unit 2 Games was founded just about 3 years ago (in 2017) and is run by Richard Smithies. Crayta was launched just last year in July.
Social media giant Facebook has been on a shopping spree when it comes to one-off VR (virtual reality) acquisitions. With the acquisition of Unit 2 Games, it is pretty clear that the social media company has bigger ambitions and wants to create a similar-to-Roblox platform for game creation.
Why did Facebook buy Unit 2 Games?
Acquiring Crayta will give Facebook access to Crayta. If you are not familiar with Crayta, it is an online platform that gives users a no-code way to create games – or to create one with collaborators. You can also have other people indulge in games you’ve created and also earn from your efforts.
Yes, things will be much easier for you if you already have experience in developing games and know the basics of coding. However, the technicalities aren’t a prerequisite to begin on Crayta.
Facebook bought Crayta to make game creation accessible as well as easy-to-use. It is, in fact, also trying to integrate the creation tools of Crayta into the cloud platform of Facebook Gaming to “instantly deliver new experiences” in its website.
Founders of Unit 2 Games bring with them experience from an “operating service-based creative sandbox adventure – SkySaga. The public company, according to its LinkedIn account, specializes in computer games, video games and creative games. Currently, the company is 40-employee strong.
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More on Facebook’s plan
When Google’s game-making platform was launched on Stadia last year, very quickly it became the launch pad of the service’s state share feature.
State share gives users a way to dive into a title at the exact same point as your friend (or a streamer) you are watching via a simple link.
In its acquisition announcement, social media company Facebook said that it is also currently working on a “similar feature” and believes that it can take things further. Facebook did not explain how, but wrote that the acquisition of Unit 2 Games along with its creation tools will accelerate and complement those efforts.
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