Peter Jackson sells a $ 1.6 billion visual effects company to Unity

The New Zealand-based visual effects studio, co-founded by Academy Award-winning director Sir Peter Jackson, was sold for $ 1.6 billion (£ 1.2 billion).

Weta Digital, which has worked on films including The Lord of the Rings and Avatar, was acquired by video game software company Unity.

Unity’s technology underpins games like Pokémon Go and Call of Duty: Mobile.

The companies say the deal means Weta’s special effects tools will be “democratized”.

“Together, Unity and Weta Digital can create a path for any artist, from any industry, to be able to leverage these incredibly creative and powerful tools,” Sir Peter said in a statement.

Weta, which was co-financed by Sir Peter in 1993, is known for creating animated characters such as Avatar’s Neyriti, Gollum in the Lord of the Rings film series and Caesar of the Planet of the Apes.

Under the agreement, the company will be demerged and its technology assets will be sold to Unity as Weta Digital.

His visual effects business will remain as a separate company called WetaFX, which is expected to become one of Unity’s largest clients.

In a statement, Unity said it “will put Weta’s incredibly unique and sophisticated visual effects tools in the hands of millions of creators and artists around the world” enabling them to shape the future of the metaverse.

The term metaverse has come into widespread use in recent weeks after Facebook said last month that it would change its name to Meta to better reflect its new focus on connecting users through augmented and virtual reality.

Following the announcement of the cash-and-stock deal, Unity’s shares fell more than 6% in extended trading on the New York Stock Exchange.