Key Notes
- Reuters reports that Silver Lake and PIF have discussed a Unity acquisition at roughly $25 billion, but no deal is certain and terms could change.
- Both investors helped take Electronic Arts private in August, while Silver Lake already owns around 8% of Unity.
- Unity’s latest quarter produced $622 million in revenue and $122 million in GAAP net income, with advertising accounting for most of its business.
Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have held talks about buying Unity at a valuation of roughly $25 billion, according to Reuters. The investors, already part of Electronic Arts’ ownership group, would gain a major supplier of the tools developers use to build and monetize games if a deal goes ahead.
Reuters reported the discussions on November 5, citing people familiar with the matter. No agreement has been announced, and the agency’s sources cautioned that the plans and terms could change.
A $25 Billion Valuation Under Discussion
The prospective buyers approached Unity in recent weeks, Reuters reported. Silver Lake already owns around 8% of the company, while Unity has been working with an investment bank to assess its options.
The roughly $25 billion figure was discussed before Unity’s latest earnings release pushed its market capitalization to about $21.5 billion. Those figures put the talks above the public-market value cited in the report, but do not establish an agreed price for shareholders.
Unity declined to comment to Reuters. Silver Lake and PIF did not immediately respond to the agency’s requests for comment.
The Connection to EA’s New Owners
The overlap with EA is substantial. The publisher confirmed on August 4 that its acquisition by PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners had closed. EA shareholders received $210 per share, and the company’s stock ceased trading.
EA’s original deal announcement valued that transaction at approximately $55 billion on an enterprise-value basis. It set out about $36 billion in equity investment and $20 billion in committed debt financing, with $18 billion expected to be funded at closing.
That structure made the EA purchase a leveraged buyout: borrowing helped pay for the acquisition. We covered the subsequent debate over how its debt could affect development spending, separating analyst forecasts from the publisher’s confirmed decisions.
A Unity acquisition would concern a different part of the games business. EA publishes and develops games, while Unity supplies technology to studios across the industry. Common investors would not, by itself, mean the two companies were merging.
PIF’s wider gaming group also has an existing relationship with Unity. Savvy Games Group announced a memorandum of understanding in August 2025 offering qualifying Saudi developers complimentary access to selected Unity services, including analytics, advertising and multiplayer tools, as well as learning resources. That partnership is separate from an ownership transaction.
Unity’s Engine and Advertising Business Are Both in Play
The approach comes as Unity reports stronger financial performance. Its third-quarter results put revenue at $622 million, up 32% from a year earlier, and GAAP net income at $122 million, compared with a $127 million loss a year before.
CEO Matt Bromberg described it as Unity’s first profitable quarter under GAAP accounting since its initial public offering. The company attributed growth in its advertising network to Unity Vector, while subscriptions helped its game-development business.
The division between those businesses matters for developers. Create Solutions, which includes the engine business, generated $165 million in quarterly revenue. Grow Solutions brought in $457 million, underlining the scale of advertising and monetization alongside game creation.
We recently reported on Unity’s partnership with PvX to offer eligible mobile studios user-acquisition financing without selling equity. That program links funding to campaign performance and participation in Unity’s Developer Data Framework, illustrating how its services extend beyond building a game.
For studios using that ecosystem, ownership is only one of the practical questions. Product investment, support and commercial terms would all depend on decisions that have yet to be announced. The reported talks do not establish a new engine license, a pricing change or a timetable for taking Unity private.
