Unity Engine Coming to PlayStation Platforms

[StewShearerOld]

Unity Engine Coming to PlayStation Platforms

The popular development engine will soon be bringing games to PS3, PS4, PS Vita and PS Mobile.

Game development is hard, requiring practice, patience, and resources that many people just don't have. Tools to make it easier are always welcome, and for many smaller teams the premier tool for cost-effective game making is the Unity engine. Up until recently, Unity has generally been used to develop for PC, iOS and Android, with console development being less common, thanks in part to some restrictive practices from console makers. This changed in September 2012 when Nintendo signed a licensing agreement to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119691-Nintendo-Brings-Unity-Engine-to-Wii-U>make Unity compatible for Wii U development. This shift toward Unity-based console development is now expanding with the news that Sony has entered into a similar agreement to help bring Unity games to PlayStation platforms.

"Today, all of us at Unity Technologies are thrilled to announce a partnership with SCEA that will see Unity tools developed for PlayStation platforms," said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. "We'll be making games built on Unity deployable to PS4, PS3, PS Vita, PS Mobile, and SCE's future cloud services." While a handful of games made with Unity have previously made it onto PlayStation platforms, this new deal could increase their number exponentially.

The licensing agreement itself comes on the heels of Sony's recent efforts to bring more indie games to its hardware. While this has previously led to the announcement of indie games like <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122215-Hotline-Miami-Will-Release-on-PS3-and-Vita>Hotline Miami and <a href=www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122696-Lone-Survivor-Heads-to-PS3-and-Vita>Lone Survivor being ported to PlayStation platforms, a Unity engine tailored toward PlayStation platforms could integrate indie developers into Sony consoles on a much larger level. Being (relatively) easy to learn, as well as faster and cheaper to use than other development methods, Unity is popular with many indie developers who would likely jump at the opportunity to have their games reach a new, paying audience.

While this announcement hasn't come with any immediate word on when Unity tools for PlayStation will become available, it's hard not to get excited about the prospect of such a wide breadth of videogames finding new ways to entertain us.

Source: PlayStation Blog




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[Evil Smurf]

So what games will be available to play?

 

[thesilentman]

So what games will be available to play?

Anything made on the Unity engine. :-D

Seriously, I don't know. I guess that there's something to look out for. I do know that Slender was made via Unity engine, but that's all I know. TO WIKIPEDIA!

This is great news. Now I get to really be motivated to program! Yay! Now I just need to brush up on all my programming...

 

[Sidmen]

Project Eternity is being made on the Unity engine. Though the prospect of it being ported to the PS4 would make me happy (and far more likely to buy the thing), I doubt any game not being developed for a console will be available.

So, this is mostly just news that says: "A cheap alternative for Indie games has opened up on the Playstation - expect ports and more Indie games to be available in the future."

 

[Marak Daga]

as a game designer and programmer in my free time, this gives me a lot of joy!

 

[Waaghpowa]

The more things made in unity, the more cross platform games there are. This can only be good.

 

[Piflik]

It was already possible to develop for PS3 (and XBox 360, Wii) with Unity for years. You just could not get a console license as straight forward as an Android or iOS license. You need to contact Unity and Sony/Microsoft and it costs an undisclosed amount of money (in addition to the license paid to Sony or Microsoft directly, which is a per-game fee). Not sure what will be changed here in the future, but this article is surprisingly badly researched...

 

[StewShearerOld]

It was already possible to develop for PS3 (and XBox 360, Wii) with Unity for years. You just could not get a console license as straight forward as an Android or iOS license. You need to contact Unity and Sony/Microsoft and it costs an undisclosed amount of money (in addition to the license paid to Sony or Microsoft directly, which is a per-game fee). Not sure what will be changed here in the future, but this article is surprisingly badly researched...

You are correct in saying that console development has been possible, hence why I note that there have been a few games for PlayStation platforms made with Unity.

That being the case, they aren't overly common, thanks in no small part to the hoops developers have to jump through to become a platform approved developer.The presumption now is that new tools better tailored toward PS3 development will become available and that Sony (hopefully) will become less restrictive toward indies building their games with Unity.

My apologies if that wasn't clear.