Facebook buys studio behind collaborative game-making platform 'Crayta'

Unit 2 Games is now part of Facebook Gaming. The developer is known for Crayta, the collaborative game creation platform built on Unreal Engine 4 that launched as a Stadia exclusive last year. Facebook will absorb the Unit 2 team and now owns its technology, though it doesn't sound like fans have anything to worry about. Based on the FAQs the company posted about the acquisition, the team won't stop working on Crayta, and the game will continue to be available.

If you're not familiar with Crayta, it's a platform that gives you an easy way to create your own games — or to create one with collaborators — even if you don't know how to code. You can then have other people play your games and even earn money from your efforts. Of course, you'll be able to conjure up more sophisticated levels and rules if you do know how to code and are already experienced in game development, but technical know-how isn't a requirement to start. Facebook purchased the company to make "game creation more accessible and easy to use," in fact, and is planning to "integrate Crayta's creation toolset into Facebook Gaming's cloud platform to instantly deliver new experiences" on its website.

When the game-making platform arrived on Stadia last year, it became the launching pad of the service's "state share" feature. State share gives you away to jump into a title at the same point as your friend or a streamer you're watching through a simple link. Facebook said in its acquisition announcement that it's also working on a similar feature and that it believes it can take things much further. It didn't explain how, but it wrote that "[t]he addition of Unit 2 Games and its creation tools will complement and accelerate those efforts."