Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U) shares added almost 6% following the announcement of a partnership with Epic Games aimed at expanding opportunities for game developers.
The collaboration allows Unity developers to publish their games within Fortnite’s discovery system, giving them access to Fortnite’s ecosystem of over 500 million registered accounts and its Creator Economy, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually to creators.
In addition, Unity announced plans to expand its cross-platform commerce platform to support Unreal Engine, enabling developers to manage digital catalogs, pricing, promotions, and live operations across multiple platforms, including PC, mobile, and web. This functionality is expected to be available early next year.
“We’re excited to partner with Epic Games to create more opportunities for game developers around the world,” Unity CEO Matt Bromberg said in a statement. “Choice and open systems create growth for everyone in the gaming ecosystem.”
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney emphasized the importance of collaboration in building an open and interoperable metaverse.
“Just like the early days of the web, we believe that companies need to work together in order to build the open metaverse in a way that’s interoperable and fair,” Sweeney said. “Working alongside Unity we’re helping developers build fun games, reach bigger audiences, and find success.”
The announcements were made at Unity’s Annual Developer Conference, Unite, which brings together over 1,500 developers for technical sessions, networking, and hands-on learning.
Additional details about the partnership and product rollout will be shared next year.