Unity beats revenue estimates in fourth-quarter results

Unity's fourth-quarter earning results for fiscal year 2021 landed this afternoon, and while the company isn't turning a profit yet, it is earning more money. 

For the three-month period ending December 31, 2021, Unity earned $315.9 million in revenue, beating overall expectations for the quarter. That number is a 43 percent increase over its fourth-quarter revenue from 2020, where it only earned $220.3 million. 

Losses for the quarter clocked in at $144.8 million, a 79 percent increase in money lost over the $80.8 million Unity lost in the fourth quarter of 2020. Unity says the increased losses were primarily driven by an increase in stock-based compensation expenses.

The full-year results for Unity look fairly positive year-over-year, especially when it's only the second year that the engine developer was publicly traded on the stock market. It earned $1.1 billion in revenue across all of 2021 (up 44 percent from 2020), and posted a loss of $531.7 million for the full year. It only lost $274.8 in 2020, meaning its losses increased 93 percent year-over-year.

Along with the increase in stock-based compensation expenses in 2021, Unity said its losses were also derived from $49.8 million spent on the termination of a lease agreement. 

Unity's annual results also provide data on how many of its customers are earning over $100,000 in revenue. That number increased 33 percent year-over-year, jumping from 793 clients at the end of 2020 to 1,052 clients at the end of 2021.

That does mean more high-earning customers are choosing to do business with Unity. It's a number that might continue to climb thanks to Unity's new stewardship of WETA Digital.