What the heck is ironSource?

[CorWilson]

Not even on the Unity announcement did they explain who they are.

If you don’t know ironSource, they bring a proven record of helping creators focus on what creators do best – bringing great apps and user experiences to life – while enabling business expansion in the app economy. ironSource’s suite of tools and solutions provides the majority of the world’s top games and many of the leading non-gaming apps with the monetization, marketing, analytics, and discovery capabilities they need to build and run scalable app-based businesses. The combination of both companies will accelerate Unity’s growth as a software company powering the creator economy end-to-end.

So is it just an ads service?

[alfredbaudisch_1]

I also still have no idea what the merge is all about and what is ironSource and what does it have to do with Unity and gamedev.

Seems to be focused on creating viral mobile games + 100% ad focused?

“The combination of Unity and ironSource better supports creators of all sizes by giving them all the tools they need to create and grow successful apps in gaming and other consumer-facing verticals like e-commerce”

Unity is merging with ironSource in an all-stock deal valuing Ironsource at...

“In the near term, ironSource’s mediation platform will leverage the combined strength of the two companies’ ad networks to deliver increased user reach and data scale, and provide an increased return on ad spend to advertisers.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005473/en/Unity-Announces-Merger-Agreement-with-ironSource

“ironSource will merge into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unity via an all-stock deal”

[andyz]

Poorly written blog post right?
They (for unspecified fee) help you monetize and advertise your mobile app.

Interesting they say they are merging with them? Technical term for buying?
Edit: Actually merging of 2 traded companies is probably just a share swap

[alfredbaudisch_1]

@andyz

Poorly written blog post right?
They (for unspecified fee) help you monetize and advertise your mobile app.

Interesting they say they are merging with them? Technical term for buying?

It’s interesting that a Mobile Ad company is buying a thing where mobile is just a fraction of it.

[CorWilson]

@alfredbaudisch_1

It’s interesting that a Mobile Ad company is buying a thing where mobile is just a fraction of it.

Technically, Unity is used a lot in the mobile development space. Lots of job openings of mobile companies wanting Unity developers.

[Moonjump_1]

@alfredbaudisch_1

It’s interesting that a Mobile Ad company is buying a thing where mobile is just a fraction of it.

A large percentage of Unity income is from their mobile ads service, and are merging with a highly (possibly the most) successful company in that area, which has a more complete services solution for devs. It appears far more relevant to Unity than any of their recent purchases.

[Murgilod]

I’ve literally had to use MalwareBytes to remove some of their adware from computers in the past so that’s… cool…

[CodeSmile]

Btw here‘s their side of the story: https://www.is.com/community/blog/ironsource-joins-forces-with-unity/

[Murgilod]

Cool merger, bros.

Ironcore: Adware.IronCore

One of Israel's most important tech IPO candidates is accused of using...

If you’ve worked in even the basics of computer security, IronSource is a name you probably already know. They are a primary delivery system used for packaged installers, they were a massive part of the whole “accidentally downloaded Chrome with loads of extensions” thing that happened a few years back because they never really ever vetted their users, and they were also the primary source of adware on Mac computers.

How anyone looked at this company and said “aw yeah, that’s the good stuff” would surprise me if we didn’t have a bunch of layoffs where people said that it was a real shitshow behind the scenes.

[bonickhausen]

well that’s depressing.

[luispedrofonseca]

Unity is REALLY trying to make us look into Godot and UE5…

[GCatz]

who would believe an ex-EA CEO would gut Unity like a fish
I recommend reading the HN thread on this subject, very insightful comments on ironSource and state of Unity

Unity merges with IronSource

[Henrarz]

@GCatz_1

who would believe an ex-EA CEO would gut Unity like a fish

Unity gets most money from advertising so it’s no wonder they try to expand their profitable side of the business.

[derkoi]

Wow…awesome.

[jiraphatK]

One disheartening news after another this year It’s like Unity is trying the hardest to commit sucicide. If only I am not committed to the project in production, I’ll probaly look to learn other engine for real this time.

[Murgilod]

Anyway quick question… is this something somebody should normally see on the wikipedia page of a product made by the company you’re merging with?

installCore

[Zephus]

Did Unity’s stock price just drop by almost 18% today or am I seeing this wrong? Holy crap. This seems bad. Like, beginning of the end bad. First the mismanaged Editor in the last few years, then the lay-offs and now a merger with a scummy adware company? What the hell is going on?

[DragonCoder]

@Murgilod

Anyway quick question… is this something somebody should normally see on the wikipedia page of a product made by the company you’re merging with?

installCore - Wikipedia

It’s a long time discontinued product, plus the article is everything but purely positive.
Also, with 100 million downloads a day, even if that’s only half true, it’s kinda inevitable that it has been used by 3rd parties with malicious intent. They just were the biggest player back then for monetizable installers and thus also the biggest target…

@Zephus

Did Unity’s stock price just drop by almost 18% today or am I seeing this wrong? Holy crap.

The whole industry fluctuates a lot. They were lower a couple weeks ago.

[Murgilod]

@DragonCoder

It’s a long time discontinued product, plus the article is everything but purely positive.
Also, with 100 million downloads a day, even if that’s only half true, it’s kinda inevitable that it has been used by 3rd parties with malicious intent. They just were the biggest player back then for monetizable installers and thus also the biggest target…

The whole industry fluctuates a lot. They were lower a couple weeks ago.

You’re missing the point, quite intentionally I’d wager. First of all, by “long discontinued” do you mean “two years discontinued?” Do you not seem to understand that having that warning on a Wikipedia article at all is the problem, not the fact that it isn’t a glowing article that had those things edited in after this warning went up? Do you think that IronSource’s history as adware from their own actions is meaningless here?

This is a company with a long history of this. This isn’t new behaviour and it’s not behaviour that just magically goes away. As I already said:

@Murgilod

If you’ve worked in even the basics of computer security, IronSource is a name you probably already know. They are a primary delivery system used for packaged installers, they were a massive part of the whole “accidentally downloaded Chrome with loads of extensions” thing that happened a few years back because they never really ever vetted their users, and they were also the primary source of adware on Mac computers.

[chingwa]

Unity stock down 17% today and falling since announcement.