The Unity game engine launched in 2005, aiming to "democratize" game development by making it accessible to more developers.[6][8] The next year, Unity was named runner-up in the Best Use of Mac OS X Graphics category in Apple Inc.'s Apple Design Awards.[9] Unity was initially released for Mac OS X, later adding support for Microsoft Windows and Web browsers.[10]
Unity 2.0 launched in 2007 with approximately 50 new features.[11] The release included an optimized terrain engine for detailed 3D environments, real-time dynamic shadows, directional lights and spotlights, video playback, and other features.[11] The release also added features whereby developers could collaborate more easily.[11] It included a Networking Layer for developers to create multiplayer games based on the User Datagram Protocol, offering Network Address Translation, State Synchronization, and Remote Procedure Calls.[11]
When Apple launched its App Store in 2008, Unity quickly added support for the iPhone.[10] For several years, the engine was uncontested on the iPhone and it became well-known with iOS game developers.[6]
Unity 3.0 launched in September 2010 with features expanding the engine's graphics features for desktop computers and video game consoles.[12] In addition to Android support, Unity 3 featured integration of Illuminate Labs' Beast Lightmap tool, deferred rendering, a built-in tree editor, native font rendering, automatic UV mapping, and audio filters, among other things.[12]
In 2012 VentureBeat wrote, "Few companies have contributed as much to the flowing of independently produced games as Unity Technologies. [...] More than 1.3 million developers are using its tools to create gee-whiz graphics in their iOS, Android, console, PC, and web-based games. Unity wants to be the engine for multi-platform games, period."[13] A May 2012 survey by Game Developer magazine indicated Unity as its top game engine for mobile platforms.[14] In November 2012, Unity Technologies delivered Unity 4.0.[15] This version added DirectX 11 and Adobe Flash support, new animation tools called Mecanim, and access to the Linux preview.[15]
Facebook integrated a software development kit for games using the Unity game engine in 2013.[16] This featured tools that allowed tracking advertising campaigns and deep linking, where users were directly linked from social media posts to specific portions within games, and easy in-game-image sharing.[16] In 2016, Facebook developed a new PC gaming platform with Unity.[17] Unity provided support for Facebook's gaming platforms, and Unity developers could more quickly export and publish games to Facebook.[17]
The Verge said of 2015's Unity 5 release: "Unity started with the goal of making game development universally accessible. [...] Unity 5 is a long-awaited step towards that future."[18] With Unity 5, the engine improved its lighting and audio.[19] Through WebGL, Unity developers could add their games to compatible Web browsers with no plug-ins required for players.[19] Unity 5.0 offered real-time global illumination, light mapping previews, Unity Cloud, a new audio system, and the Nvidia PhysX 3.3 physics engine.[19] The fifth generation of the Unity engine also introduced Cinematic Image Effects to help make Unity games look less generic.[20] Unity 5.6 added new lighting and particle effects, updated the engine's overall performance, and added native support for Nintendo Switch, Facebook Gameroom, Google Daydream, and the Vulkan graphics API.[21] It introduced a 4K video player capable of running 360-degree videos for virtual reality.[21] However, some gamers criticized Unity's accessibility due to the high volume of quickly produced games published on the Steam distribution platform by inexperienced developers.[22] CEO John Riccitiello said in an interview that he believes this to be a side-effect of Unity's success in democratizing game development: "If I had my way, I'd like to see 50 million people using Unity – although I don't think we're going to get there any time soon. I'd like to see high school and college kids using it, people outside the core industry. I think it's sad that most people are consumers of technology and not creators. The world's a better place when people know how to create, not just consume, and that's what we're trying to promote."[23]
In December 2016, Unity Technologies announced that they would change the versioning numbering system for Unity from sequence-based identifiers to year of release to align the versioning with their more frequent release cadence; Unity 5.6 was therefore followed by Unity 2017.[24] Unity 2017 tools featured a real-time graphics rendering engine, color grading and worldbuilding, live operations analytics and performance reporting.[25] Unity 2017.2 underscored Unity Technologies' plans beyond video games.[25] This included new tools such as Timeline, which allowed developers to drag-and-drop animations into games, and Cinemachine, a smart camera system within games.[25] Unity 2017.2 also integrated Autodesk's 3DS Max and Maya tools into the Unity engine for a streamlined asset sharing in-game iteration process.[26]
Unity 2018 featured the Scriptable Render Pipeline for developers to create high-end graphics.[27] This included the High-Definition Rendering Pipeline for console and PC experiences, and the Lightweight Rendering Pipeline for mobile, virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality.[27] Unity 2018 also included machine learning tools, such as Imitation Learning, whereby games learn from real player habits, support for Magic Leap, and templates for new developers.[27]
The C# source code of Unity was published under a "reference-only" license in March 2018, disallowing reuse and modification.[28]
In June 2020, Unity introduced the Mixed and Augmented Reality Studio (MARS), which provides developers with additional functionality for rules-based generation of augmented reality (AR) applications.[29] Unity released Unity Forma, an automotive and retail solution tool, on December 9th, 2020.[30]
Unity 2.0 launched in 2007 with approximately 50 new features.[11] The release included an optimized terrain engine for detailed 3D environments, real-time dynamic shadows, directional lights and spotlights, video playback, and other features.[11] The release also added features whereby developers could collaborate more easily.[11] It included a Networking Layer for developers to create multiplayer games based on the User Datagram Protocol, offering Network Address Translation, State Synchronization, and Remote Procedure Calls.[11]
When Apple launched its App Store in 2008, Unity quickly added support for the iPhone.[10] For several years, the engine was uncontested on the iPhone and it became well-known with iOS game developers.[6]
Unity 3.0 launched in September 2010 with features expanding the engine's graphics features for desktop computers and video game consoles.[12] In addition to Android support, Unity 3 featured integration of Illuminate Labs' Beast Lightmap tool, deferred rendering, a built-in tree editor, native font rendering, automatic UV mapping, and audio filters, among other things.[12]
In 2012 VentureBeat wrote, "Few companies have contributed as much to the flowing of independently produced games as Unity Technologies. [...] More than 1.3 million developers are using its tools to create gee-whiz graphics in their iOS, Android, console, PC, and web-based games. Unity wants to be the engine for multi-platform games, period."[13] A May 2012 survey by Game Developer magazine indicated Unity as its top game engine for mobile platforms.[14] In November 2012, Unity Technologies delivered Unity 4.0.[15] This version added DirectX 11 and Adobe Flash support, new animation tools called Mecanim, and access to the Linux preview.[15]
Facebook integrated a software development kit for games using the Unity game engine in 2013.[16] This featured tools that allowed tracking advertising campaigns and deep linking, where users were directly linked from social media posts to specific portions within games, and easy in-game-image sharing.[16] In 2016, Facebook developed a new PC gaming platform with Unity.[17] Unity provided support for Facebook's gaming platforms, and Unity developers could more quickly export and publish games to Facebook.[17]
The Verge said of 2015's Unity 5 release: "Unity started with the goal of making game development universally accessible. [...] Unity 5 is a long-awaited step towards that future."[18] With Unity 5, the engine improved its lighting and audio.[19] Through WebGL, Unity developers could add their games to compatible Web browsers with no plug-ins required for players.[19] Unity 5.0 offered real-time global illumination, light mapping previews, Unity Cloud, a new audio system, and the Nvidia PhysX 3.3 physics engine.[19] The fifth generation of the Unity engine also introduced Cinematic Image Effects to help make Unity games look less generic.[20] Unity 5.6 added new lighting and particle effects, updated the engine's overall performance, and added native support for Nintendo Switch, Facebook Gameroom, Google Daydream, and the Vulkan graphics API.[21] It introduced a 4K video player capable of running 360-degree videos for virtual reality.[21] However, some gamers criticized Unity's accessibility due to the high volume of quickly produced games published on the Steam distribution platform by inexperienced developers.[22] CEO John Riccitiello said in an interview that he believes this to be a side-effect of Unity's success in democratizing game development: "If I had my way, I'd like to see 50 million people using Unity – although I don't think we're going to get there any time soon. I'd like to see high school and college kids using it, people outside the core industry. I think it's sad that most people are consumers of technology and not creators. The world's a better place when people know how to create, not just consume, and that's what we're trying to promote."[23]
In December 2016, Unity Technologies announced that they would change the versioning numbering system for Unity from sequence-based identifiers to year of release to align the versioning with their more frequent release cadence; Unity 5.6 was therefore followed by Unity 2017.[24] Unity 2017 tools featured a real-time graphics rendering engine, color grading and worldbuilding, live operations analytics and performance reporting.[25] Unity 2017.2 underscored Unity Technologies' plans beyond video games.[25] This included new tools such as Timeline, which allowed developers to drag-and-drop animations into games, and Cinemachine, a smart camera system within games.[25] Unity 2017.2 also integrated Autodesk's 3DS Max and Maya tools into the Unity engine for a streamlined asset sharing in-game iteration process.[26]
Unity 2018 featured the Scriptable Render Pipeline for developers to create high-end graphics.[27] This included the High-Definition Rendering Pipeline for console and PC experiences, and the Lightweight Rendering Pipeline for mobile, virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality.[27] Unity 2018 also included machine learning tools, such as Imitation Learning, whereby games learn from real player habits, support for Magic Leap, and templates for new developers.[27]
The C# source code of Unity was published under a "reference-only" license in March 2018, disallowing reuse and modification.[28]
In June 2020, Unity introduced the Mixed and Augmented Reality Studio (MARS), which provides developers with additional functionality for rules-based generation of augmented reality (AR) applications.[29] Unity released Unity Forma, an automotive and retail solution tool, on December 9th, 2020.[30]