Unity Unveils Future Plans, Empowers Developers to 'Create and Connect'

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Aug 20, 2014) -  Today at its sold out Unite 2014 Conference for developers, Unity Technologies unveiled product plans and collaborations, demonstrated Unity 5, and gave previews of technology that will empower developers with its end-to-end game development platform.

"Unity is enabling the democratization of game development with tools that help developers create immersive experiences and connect millions of users across multiple platforms," said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. "With today's announcements, and such a passionate group of developers, it is clear that Unity is becoming more than just an engine."

During the keynote, Unity announced:

• Unity Cloud Build is a powerful continuous integration service that helps developers build, test, and share new game projects more quickly. The acquisition of Tsugi, an Austin-based startup, provided the foundation for these tools. The beta is available today. Sign up at https://build.cloud.unity3d.com. (See separate release)
  
  
• Unity 4.6 public beta gives developers access to test Unity's most anticipated feature, the new UI system. The Unity 4.6 beta (download here) is a near-complete solution that demonstrates what an efficient toolset Unity UI is for creating a UI for your games, apps, and any other kind of content. Tutorials for the Unity 4.6 beta can be found here.
  
  
• Select Unity components will be open source, which furthers Unity's commitment to open source development and enables our developers to gain more control, customize components, and extend Unity under an unrestrictive MIT/x11 license. The first open source components are the Unity Test Tools and will be followed soon by the new UI system. (See blog post)
  
  
• Unity Everyplay is now integrated in over 700 games with 15M registered users and 6M shared replays. The popular replay and sharing network is introducing new community features to engage game fans, including social hubs for individual games where discussions can take place with embedded videos, a redesigned social UI, and upgraded social feed for games.
  
  
• Unity Ads launches open beta for the cross-promotion video and pictures ad solution that allows developers to cross promote among their own games, among friends' games, and among the entire community of Unity Ads integrated games. Developers using Unity Ads will earn over $20M in ad revenue in 2014 alone. Sign up at https://unityads.unity3d.com.
  
  
• Collaboration with Intel® to advance the development of Android-based applications on Intel® architecture. The agreement accelerates Intel's mobility push as millions of developers can use the Unity development platform to bring native Android games and other apps to Intel-based mobile devices. (See separate release)
  
  
• Public Preview of Unity 4.5 for Samsung Smart TVs adds another platform to Unity's already extensive multiplatform capabilities. Unity for Samsung Smart TV is for all Unity developers. (See blog post)
  
  
• Collaboration with Google will provide full support in Unity for Google's Android TV set top box, which is available today in the Unity 4.5.3p2 update as part of the Unity Android build.

Helgason also revealed new market research that shows the continuing success and adoption of the Unity platform. According to the research, VisionMobile reports that 47 percent of mobile developers use Unity. Additionally, a McKinsey report, to be released in September 2014, concludes that over 45 percent of mobile games created with third-party engines are made with Unity and estimates that 600M gamers are playing Unity-authored games.

If you aren't able to attend the conference, you can track #Unite14 on Twitter, watch our Facebook page, and check out our blog.

About Unity Technologies
Unity Technologies is the creator of Unity, a flexible and high-performance end-to-end development platform used to create rich interactive 3D and 2D experiences. Unity's powerful core engine and editor serve as the foundation for developers and designers to quickly build beautiful games or apps and easily bring them across multiple platforms: mobile devices, home entertainment systems, personal computers, and embedded systems.

At the heart of Unity's democratization initiatives you will find solutions and services for building games and audiences. The Unity Asset Store digital content marketplace supports developer efforts by providing time and money-saving solutions to tough production, design, and art challenges. New integrated services such as Unity Cloud Build extend the platform for greater productivity in creating, testing, and deploying while Unity Everyplay and Unity Ads help developers to connect with their audiences and acquire users through sharing of game replays on social network and offering a high-quality advertising network.

Unity Technologies serves over 600,000 monthly active developers, including large publishers, indie studios, students and hobbyists around the globe. For more information, visit: http://unity3d.com.