Unity sees growth in engine revenue, shuts down IronSource ad network in favour of Vector AI user-acquisition platform

Unity has announced that it is shutting down its IronSource advertising/user-acquisition network and planning to divest Supersonic, publisher of mobile games including Bridge Race, Going Balls and Build A Queen. The firm said the process would “simplify the business” and enable it to focus on higher growth segments, including its AI-powered ad network Vector. The news was included in the firm’s latest investor update.

The news follows a steady decline in performance for the IronSource ad network and strong growth for Vector. The company’s fiscal 2025 results, announced last month, attributed “mid-teen sequential quarterly revenue growth from Unity Vector, which represents 56% of total Grow Solutions revenue”, while IronSource ad network revenues had declined, with IronSource founder Tomer Bar-Zeev leaving the firm.

Vector, which launched in 2025, is expected to “deliver robust growth each quarter, driving results meaningfully above our guidance,” Unity CEO Matt Bromberg said in the investor update. The IronSource ads network will be shut down on April 30th, 2026.

The proposed divestment of Supersonic, meanwhile, echoes Unity rival AppLovin’s retreat from game publishing. AppLovin’s focus has become its extremely successful AI ad product Axiom, which Unity’s Vector was launched against.

Unity’s platform remains a popular choice for game development on PC and console as well as mobile, but the most recent GDC survey showed it losing share to Godot and Unreal Engine, with the latter showing equal usage for the first time. The firm said that its engine business, Create Solutions, posted a year-over-year increase of $13 million to $165 million in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Unity merged with IronSource in 2022, which reportedly lead to internal problems due to contrasting working cultures. IronSource was an alleged cornerstone of the Unity’s wildly unpopular Runtime Fee in 2023, which was set to to charge developers a per-install fee which would be waived if they used IronSource’s mediation platform. The policy sparked an immediate outcry including a public boycott and was swiftly walked back, with CEO John Riccitiello leaving the business shortly afterwards.

Almost the entire IronSource leadership team departed Unity in 2024, shortly after the company laid off 25% of its workforce that year. Further layoffs were carried out in 2025.