March 18, 2014

Unity Technologies acquires Applifier

Unity Technologies, creator of the popular game development engine Unity recently announced that it has acquired Applifier, maker of the the Everplay and GameAds services. The financial details of the technology merger were not disclosed. 

Based in Finland, Applifier launched its Everplay service last year. The application allows video game users to record and share videos of their activities. The makers of the app created it because they think that people are more likely to purchase games when they see a friend playing it first. Developers who added Everplay to their games could then encourage users to hare share the recordings on YouTube or social networking sites. 

"The life and death challenge that game developers face today is twofold: creating fantastic games (and connecting with an audience)," Unity Technologies said in a statement on its website. "Everyplay tackles the challenge of user acquisition in an authentic and exciting way that not only encourages discovery, but also discovery in depth and thus stronger retention and engagement."

Everplay currently has six million registered users and facilitated the sharing of 650,000 videos. For now, the program will continue to have its own software development kit for independent game companies to use. Over time, the service will become more deeply integrated into Unity's systems. 

Based in San Francisco, Unity Technologies provides cross-platform tools and shortcuts to game developers. Its most popular service allows developers to build a game once and then run it on an almost unlimited number of platforms. The company estimates that 15 to 20 million mobile games built with Unity are downloaded each day. Popular titles include the Temple Run and Dead Trigger games along with Kerbal Space Program.