Ever-popular development engine Unity has denied the company is up for sale, taking to its forums to dismiss rumours it's been actively seeking a buyer in recent weeks.

Company co-founder and CTO Joachim Ante said it's Unity's firm view that it is "best to be an independent company", responding to a story recently published by CNET that claimed the firm was touting its business to interested parties.

However, according to Ante, there are "no plans to sell Unity."

Democratisation of development

"We always wanted to make a game engine that is accessible to everyone - to give customers an equal chance to develop great games and compete with larger players," opened Ante on Unity's forums.

"The role we now have in the gaming industry has been noticed by other companies. And today we have partnerships and collaborations with many of them. And these partnerships have enabled us to make it even better for you guys. For example offering you access to even more platforms in Unity at no extra cost. Sometimes when we talk to our partners, discussions turn to talk of acquisition.

"Our response has always been that for Unity it is best to be an independent company. This has been true for the last 10 years, it is equally true today. So to sum it up: We have no plan to sell Unity."

CNET's report came weeks after VentureBeat published an 'exclusive' claiming Unity was "exploring" its options, with one being the sale of the company for between $1-2 billion.

You can read why we think a Unity sale would be a bad move right now here.