Let’s Talk About FX: How Netflix and Unity are reshaping the industry forever

What do you get if you cross Peter Jackson with the metaverse? A betterverse, of course. 

With a Christmas cracker joke like that to confuse your granny, we’d better explain ourselves pronto.  

In case you hadn’t heard, Unity Software, the 3D game-development platform, has made a permanent commitment, as a blushing bride might say, with the $1.625 billion acquisition of Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital technology division. Yes, the same company that brought us Gollum, and Caesar from the Planet of the Apes trilogy.  

So what? We’ll tell you so what – the deal includes the ultra exciting news that in the not-too-distant future, Unity will make Weta Digital’s tools available to creators via a cloud.  

Okay, as you’d expect when you’re talking quality, there will be a subscription, but that doesn’t take away from this being a massive development for the industry. The Jackson team’s cutting-edge toolkit will be available to creators outside the Hollywood (and New Zealand) bubble. 

As far as Unity’s concerned, this will give an enormous boost to the next generation of real-time 3D content for the metaverse – something else that has got us all hot under the collar. 

Weta Digital’s awards shelf is buckling thanks to some titles that need no fanfare. We’re talking Avatar, Black Widow, Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, The Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and The Umbrella Academy. We could go on… 

But we reckon the most intriguing part about it is that this exotic movie/games/metaverse lovechild will create so many more opportunities and alliances in the ever-expanding digiverse. 

And that’s not the only “in case you haven’t heard”… 

Do you remember when Spider-Man and Mysterio fought the lava monster in the city of Prague a couple of years ago? So do we. The eye-popping visuals were brought to you by Scanline VFX, soon to be “courtesy of Netflix”. The deal will be finalised in the first quarter of this year, but this isn’t just a swallow-up buy-out that will see Scanline disappear forever behind the Netflix cloak.  

Not only will the Munich-founded studios still retain president Stephan Trojansky after the deal is done, but it will still operate as an independent business. Stand up, Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s VP of Studio Operations, who said that the streaming giant would “invest in Scanline’s pipeline, infrastructure and workforce” to push the boundaries of what is visually possible.  

Great news for the staff and the expansion of non-Netflix projects like The Batman and Black Adam. But Netflix aren’t letting the other side down either – they will continue to work with other innovative VFX teams around the world, supporting ground-breaking development by the super-talent in this market.  

That’s a lot to think about and discuss over a sparkling water or two. In case you’re up for it, there’s a monthly meet up in London with the details right here. If you’re in the games industry and you’re **really** up for it, Develop needs no introduction. Hope to see you there.