ArmoredThirteen

PARIS & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capgemini and Unity (NYSE: U), the world’s leading platform for creating and growing real-time 3D (RT3D) content, today announced an expansion of their strategic alliance that will see Capgemini take on Unity’s Digital Twin Professional Services arm. Per the agreement, Unity’s Digital Twin Professional Services team will join and embed within Capgemini, forming one of the largest pools of Unity enterprise developers in the world. The transaction will accelerate the iteration and implementation of the market leading real-time 3D (RT3D) visualization software for the industrial application of digital twins. It will allow end users to envision, understand, and interact with physical systems - a key enabler for intelligent industry. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024.

“Unity’s real-time 3D technology is the unequivocal industry standard for visualization across platforms and devices. As such, it is a key component that will impact the value-chain of intelligent products - from R&D to manufacturing, operations, and services,” comments William Rozé, CEO of Capgemini Engineering and Group Executive Board member. “This new agreement with Unity will allow Capgemini to embed 3D visualization software capabilities into our end-to-end business transformation services, to help clients realize the immediate and longer-term benefits of intelligent industry.”

“Unity has reached a point in its growth where the opportunity for us in the enterprise market has outpaced our ability to scale fast enough to meet client demand,” explains Jim Whitehurst, CEO, Unity. “With its scale and breadth of services – from design and engineering to business transformation and data expertise, Capgemini is well placed to unleash the full potential of Unity technology for enterprise clients across industries with specific use cases.”

As part of this agreement Capgemini plans to scale a range of sector-specific solutions that are currently in high demand. Particularly relevant for automotive, consumer products & retail, energy & utilities, aerospace & defense, healthcare & life sciences, and industrial products/manufacturing, tailored offerings are expected to include:

• Simulation: A digital representation of an asset, facility or product that emulates its real-world counterpart through advanced modeling to provide real-time insights and simulate future scenarios.
• Human Machine Interfaces: Interactive experiences for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), meters (gauge clusters), and additional screens.
• Immersive Training: Engaging training experiences in interactive 3D or augmented or virtual reality (AR and VR) to enable better knowledge transfer and safer workplaces. :::

By Anna Tong

(Reuters) - Videogame software provider Unity Software will target laying off approximately 25% of its workforce, or 1,800 jobs, the company said in a regulatory filing and internal company memo on Monday.

This is the San Francisco-based company’s largest layoff ever, with completion expected by the end of March, the company said. While Unity is not widely recognized outside the gaming industry, over 1.1 million game creators rely on its software toolkit each month, including the maker of the popular “Pokemon Go,” “Beat Saber” and “Hearthstone” games.

Monday’s deep job cut will affect all teams, regions and areas of the business, the company told Reuters.

The layoffs come shortly after interim CEO Jim Whitehurst announced a “company reset” in November.

“We are … reducing the number of things we are doing in order to focus on our core business and drive our long-term success and profitability,” Whitehurst wrote in the memo to all Unity employees on Monday.

While Whitehurst provided no specifics on structural changes to come, a company spokesperson confirmed there will be additional changes coming. This is the fourth round of layoffs the company has conducted within the last year.

The layoffs and company reset follow a tumultuous period for Unity.

In September last year, the company tried to impose a new “runtime fee” pricing policy, which charged new fees to its game developers if certain revenue and install thresholds were met. Following a developer revolt and a steep dropoff in share price, the company revamped the new fees.

Following the controversy, then-Unity CEO John Riccitiello retired, and the company appointed former IBM president Whitehurst as interim CEO and president and Sequoia Capital partner Roelof Botha as board chairman.

In November, Whitehurst announced the first part of the company reset, which included terminating an agreement with a visual effects company founded by the “Lord of the Rings” director, closing offices and no longer mandating employees work from offices. Monday’s layoff is the second part of the company reset.

Unity was founded nearly two decades ago by three Danish engineers, and gained popularity among game developers for its “game engine” that makes it simpler to develop and publish games across different platforms, such as via mobile or virtual reality.

It is also used in other industries like film and automotive for 3D visualization and virtual reality. After its IPO in 2020, Unity's stock reached a peak of around $200 in November 2021, but subsequently fell below $30 last year.

Shares have risen since Whitehurst announced the company reset.

(Reporting by Anna Tong in San Francisco; Editing by Nick Zieminski)