Businessmodel of Unity Technologies

Customer Segments

Unity serves a large customers base comprising amateur and professional games designers across multiple platforms and devices. These customers can be organised into two core categories:

• Consumers, including students, hobbyists, and amateur game developers;
• Games Developers, including individual professionals, large games developers, independent studios, and software companies; and
• Other Companies and Organisations, including consumer goods companies, media houses, government agencies, and publishing companies. Unity serves a number of leading games developers, including Electronic Arts, Facepunch Studios, Juggernaut Games, Square Enix Montreal, Ubisoft, and Mografi. It also customers such as Coca Cola, LEGO, NASA, Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, and Microsoft.

Unity is based in the US, which represents its key market. The Company, however, also serves a number of international clients across markets across north America more broadly, as well as in Europe and Asia Pacific.

Value Propositions

Unity provides value to its clients in the following ways:

• Its industry standing and reputation, with the Company established as a leading provider of gaming software, with its game engine the most popular third party development software in the world, utilised by leading games developers such as Electronic Arts, Square Enix, and Ubisoft;
• Its brand and intellectual properties, with the Company having developed a strong brand identity, and developing a range of proprietary technologies that make its software engine unique within the industry;
• Its diverse client base, with the Company serving a broad spectrum of clients, including individuals, independent developers, and large publishing houses across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific;
• Its network of partners, with the Company working closely with a number of technology companies and platform operators – such as Android, Sony, iOS, and Windows – that make the Company’s software flexible and accessible to a broad range of clients; and
• Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing specialist software development personnel, as well as a team of experienced gaming and technology industry executives. ### Channels

Unity operates a website at www.unity3d.com, through which the Company provides information regarding its flagship game engine, its ancillary services, and its operating locations. The Company operates an online sales channel that allows customers to download software and set up subscriptions directly from the Company’s website. Unity additionally operates an online asset store, through which customers can purchase and download assets, environments, and architecture that can then be used in the development of games.

Unity sells its products and services to larger enterprises through a direct sales force that is organised across the Company’s operating regions. These sales personnel operate out of the Company’s sales and administrative offices across the US, Canada, Colombia, South Korea, China, Singapore, Japan, the UK, Denmark, Germany, France, Russia, Finland, Ukraine, and Lithuania. These sales teams can be contacted over the phone or through an online contact form.

Additionally, Unity markets and sells its products through a network of channel partners. This includes various resellers and sales across all of the Company’s operating regions.

Customer Relationships

Unity sells products to customers on a self-service basis through its website. This includes its free subscription to its Unity game engine platform, as well as its mid-range Plus and Pro packages, which customers are able to download without interacting directly with members of the Company’s sales and service personnel. The Company’s online asset store also operates on a self-service basis, with users able to make purchases independently.

Unity’s Enterprise subscription is available to larger commercial operators through the Company’s various sales teams. Unity’s sales personnel consult directly with these enterprise-level customers order to ensure that their solutions are scaled appropriately and, where possible, tailored to suit each individual client’s needs. The Company arranged custom subscription plans and pricing for each of these clients, seeking to establish long-term relationships.

Unity offers clients ongoing support services. Customers are able to contact the Company directly via email, in order to receive personalised assistance. The Company also operates an online support page, where customers can find answers to common questions, and access documentation and resources. Additionally, Unity operates a community portal, through which users can interact with one another, collaborate on projects and issues, and share ideas.

Unity maintains several social media accounts – including with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube – through which the Company interacts directly with clients and publishes company updates.

Key Activities

Unity is engaged in the design and development of games, applications, and related software. The Company’s flagship offering is a game engine platform designed to allow users to create games and interactive 2D, 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality experiences. Unity additionally offers ancillary services and solutions relating to advertising, analytics, collaboration, cloud services, performance reporting, and productivity.

The Company principally serves large-scale game developers, independent studios, and software companies, as well as individual hobbyists and students, and commercial businesses. Unity is based in the US, which remains its core market, but also operates offices across markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe.

Key Partners

Unity works in close collaboration with a network of partners and organisations, primarily form within the technology and gaming space. These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, technologies, and equipment that are utilised in the development and implementation of the Company’s software products and solutions;
• Channel and Distribution Partners, including the Company’s network of authorised resellers, distributors, and sales agents that assist in enhancing the Company’s in-house sales and marketing capabilities;
• Platform and Technology Partners, including various high-profile technology companies, software developers, and gaming software developers with which the Company develops integrations and joint products; and
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, including a number of high-profile companies, primarily within the technology and gaming industries, with which the Company collaborates on joint projects in branding, development, and marketing. Unity names a number of its partners on its website. This includes various high-profile gaming and technology companies, including Sony, Nintendo, Facebook, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, and Oculus.

Key Resources

Unity’s key resources are its proprietary technologies, its products and flagship game engine, its IT and communications infrastructure, its sales and distribution channels, its network of partners, and its personnel.

Unity owns a number of intellectual properties that enable it to develop and provide unique and effective products. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified several patent applications filed in Unity’s name, both as applicant and assignees, including applications entitled ‘System and method for managing game-playing experiences’, ‘Software development kit for capturing graphical image data’ and ‘System and method for managing game-playing experiences’.

Unity additionally owns and or leases a network of properties around the world that comprise its network of sales and administrative offices.

Cost Structure

Unity incurs costs in relation to the development of its technologies and products, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the operation of its sales and distribution channels, the procurement of services and equipment, the management of its partnerships, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.

Revenue Streams

Unity generates revenue through the development and sale of gaming software solutions and various related services. The Company principally derives revenue under subscriptions for its flagship game engine platform. It also derives revenue under individual sales contracts and through the sale of assets on it online asset store.

Unity remains a privately owned company, and as such is not obliged to disclose its financial results online. Research did not identify any recent reference to the Company’s annual revenue figures.