Unity has announced its plans to acquire Parsec in a deal which will be its biggest acquisition to date. Unity has developed the popular 2D/3D engine of the same name and is now acquiring a remote desktop tool for developers and creatives in a $320 million deal.
Parsec was developed in 2016 and has been providing remote desktop access. It works well for creatives even if their device has multiple high-resolution displays. It did not change the colours of the artwork while streaming and also was compatible with high-end input devices like pressure-sensitive drawing tablets. When it was developed initially it was largely meant for gamers to help stream games from their PCs to other devices. Its low latency, high-resolution display support, and compatibility with most of the devices made it popular among game developers as well. The company began introducing features for creative teams after noticing the increasing number of users using it in the creative industry. Due to the pandemic, when employees were working from their homes, the usage of Parsec increased many folds.
Unity Senior VP Marc Whitten told TechCrunch that “I think that’s going to mean that those creators are going to need to have access to the power they need on the glass that they have, wherever they are.” He added, “and Parsec is a great example of a company that has just deeply innovated in that space.” He also signalled that this acquisition will help Unity in starting off their “broad sort of cloud ambition”.
Parsec had managed to collect $33 million in funds before the acquisition. The last funding round of Parsec was their Series B funding round in which it gathered $25 million led by Andreessen Horowitz.
The company confirmed that the acquisition will not bring any change in their free Parsec app.
