Unity says it made its first GAAP profit since its IPO as it fights an AppLovin arbitration claim

Unity, which calls itself the world's leading game engine, said on November 5, 2026, that it earned $122 million in the three months to September 30, after a $127 million net loss a year earlier. Chief executive Matt Bromberg called it “the first GAAP profitable quarter since our IPO.” Revenue rose 32% to $622 million.

The quarterly report filed the same day sets out a risk to that growth. The majority of Unity's Grow Solutions revenue is mediated through MAX, a platform run by the rival ad company AppLovin, and on September 27 AppLovin filed an arbitration claim against Unity.

Ads now bring in nearly three-quarters of revenue

Grow Solutions, which lets app publishers sell ad space, rose 44% to $457 million and made up about 73% of revenue, up from about 68% a year earlier (our calculation). Unity credits Vector, its ad technology, which Bromberg said grew 126% from a year earlier and 40% from the previous quarter. The release gives no dollar figure for Vector.

Create Solutions, the subscriptions and services developers use to build and run games, rose 8% to $165 million, as higher subscription revenue was partly offset by lower cloud and hosting revenue after what Unity calls a 2025 portfolio reset. Bromberg describes the two businesses as a loop: “more creators make more games on our platform, and more games fuel the need for more discovery through advertising.” We read the fourth-quarter guidance as a widening gap: strategic Grow revenue up 105% to 107% and strategic Create revenue up 4% to 6%. Unity's “strategic” lines leave out mainly the closed ironSource network and the sold Supersonic business.

What the profit followed

Operating income was $100.6 million, against a $125.9 million operating loss a year earlier. The profit follows a costly restructuring. In March, Unity announced it would close the ironSource Ads Network, effective April 30, and exit its Supersonic game publishing business, which it sold on August 4 for net proceeds of $38.0 million and a gain of $4.5 million. Impairment charges tied to those decisions reached $279 million over nine months, so Unity still shows a $248 million net loss for the period. It also recorded about $51 million in separation and other restructuring costs, primarily for the planned closure of Unity France.

The AppLovin dispute

A header bidding agreement with AppLovin sets the terms of Unity's access to MAX, and the filing warns that losing that access would significantly harm the business. According to Unity's account, AppLovin's claim before the arbitration provider JAMS alleges breach of that agreement and unlawful and unfair business practices related to Unity's Ad Quality SDK. AppLovin also asked a San Francisco court to stop Unity collecting or using what AppLovin calls its confidential data. The court denied that request on October 1.

Unity says it has denied all the allegations, believes the claims are without merit and has filed counterclaims, including unfair competition. It warns that an adverse ruling or a worse relationship could change its terms on MAX, restrict its use of data or reduce its access.

AppLovin's quarterly report, filed on November 4, names Unity among its competitors but does not mention the arbitration, so this account of the claim comes from Unity alone. AppLovin reported third-quarter revenue of $2.185 billion, up 55%, and net income of $1.439 billion. That revenue is nearly five times Unity's Grow Solutions revenue (our calculation), though AppLovin describes itself as a marketing platform for businesses generally, not only games.

Unity guided to fourth-quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $290 million to $295 million and held $2.651 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash on September 30.