Unity boasts 1M+ active users out of 4.5M total registered, that's nearly half of the game devs in the world, leaving the runner-up at only 17% of the leftover people dealing in the gaming industry. (Photo : Twitter@Unity3d)
Unity Technology may be an unsung name among the general public, but game developers know that it is the most widely used and fastest growing game development platform available today. Big game titles including "Fallout Shelter," "Temple Run," "Monument Valley," "Battlestar Galactica Online," "Assassin's Creed: Identity" and "Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft" are made with Unity.
Unity, also dubbed as Unity3D, is a game engine and a game development environment which offers easy tools to the game developers to create amazing 2D and 3D video games, which can be then packaged across multiple devices. Unity was the first major game development software to be offered completely free, which forced successful contemporaries like Unreal Game Engine to finally yield to the free pricing model while others trimmed their price tags as well.
Few conditions do apply to the high selling games made with unity's basic version, which seem negligible in the face of success. The software offers a convenient solution for major gaming platforms like Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, web games, virtual reality and Xbox. Now phasing through its fifth version, Unity offers extensive documentation, promotion opportunities and has hauled a huge community of experts and newbies, which is a great place for startups to get started with game development.
Today, Unity is boasting the credit for 174,000 recently built games, just between April 1 and July 31, 2.5 billion games were installed on 1.1 billion devices. Nearly 30 percent shipments arriving on Android come from Unity game engine, whereas a quarter of iOS games and up to 80 percent of AR (augmented reality) plus VR (virtual reality) games are also made with Unity.
CEO Unity Technologies, John Riccitiello, explained to CNET during a Q/A session that the reason behind their product's success and its multi-million user-base is the simplicity of the software. He noted that happiness of its users is the top priority, meanwhile the company is making money through Unity Pro and other paid services, Unity is "not a public company," and he was very proud of its financial profile.
Unity has also grabbed the attention of gaming giants like Electronic Arts who recently created "Minions" using Unity's platform, while Rovio Entertainment's new "Angry Birds" is also made with Unity. The latest stats on Unity's website claim that the game engine is entertaining 600 million gamers, developed by 4.5 million registered users, which accounts for 45 percent market share and nearly half of the game devs in the world.
Unity is becoming the leading global game industry software and hundreds more get closer to the loop every day. The chief executive of Unity Technologies hopes to extend the count to 30 million customers over the period a decade. The future of the San Francisco-based company seems promising, but it is still not going public anytime soon.
