Unity Technologies, creator of 3D game engine Unity, said Wednesday it will acquire Weta Digital, a visual effects company co-founded by director Peter Jackson, to prepare for the global metaverse transition.

Weta Digital worked on movies including “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” “Avatar” and “Black Widow.” Under the $1.6 billion deal, Unity will obtain the firm’s technology division, including its artist tools and engineering talent. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year.

“By combining the power of Unity and Weta Digital, the tools and technology that built characters and scenes from the world’s most iconic films such as ‘Avatar,’ ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Wonder Woman’ will enable an entirely new generation of creators to build, transform and distribute stunning real-time 3D content,” a company official said.

Unity’s goal is to integrate Unity Engine with Weta’s tools for facial animation, creating virtual cityscapes and modeling the deformation of objects, and to offer the whole package as a cloud-based subscription service.