Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

The weirdest part of that merger was Unity paid $4.4billion for IronSource.

ironsource was the owner and runner of the largest sleazy game ad network, which was unity specific

unity was dying for lack of revenue

The fact that they were struggling for revenue just made the massive spend seem even weirder to me, but I suppose it could make sense if they truly expected to somehow get >4.4 billion back from ad revenue eventually. They also bought Wētā FX for $1.6 billion around the same time and did basically nothing with it.[1]

[1] https://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/unity-software-with-a-com...

no, unity was dying for low profitability and ads had higher margin

I argued against the acquisition at the time, including against accepting the framing that it was a "merger", and I think everything that's transpired since then has validated my views.

Sadly, I was outnumbered and “it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it” applied as it always does.

John Riccitiello was a terrible CEO

I think there's non-zero chance this company will go down in flames. I think its only hope at this point is a sufficiently motivated activist shareholder.

I have to say it made the later "Runtime Fee" announcement seem even more in poor taste as well, given that it might have had a big effect on the users paying it, but ultimately mean almost nothing to Unity against the billions paid for IronSource and WetaFX.

At 2¢ per install, with a million Unity games installed every year, they'd make a profit in 300,000 years.