Windows Phone 8 Gets a Huge Gaming Boost with Unity3D Graphics Engine Support

Announced at the Unite conference currently being held in Amsterdam, Unite Technologies has just announced that they will be supporting Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.

This will mean developers will have a very easy time porting high quality, graphics-intensive games to Windows Phone 8 from the iPhone, and we will finally see the gaming platform live up to its potential.

The news was relayed by Jeff Weber, well known Krashlander developer, and like him we are awaiting more details.

The news has been confirmed by Edge-Online.com where Unity Technologies CEO David Helgason revealed 53% of mobile game developers already uses the engine.

“Our mission at Unity has always been to provide solutions for developers to effortlessly bring their work to as many different platforms as possible,” Helgason said.

“The Unity community has been asking for access to Windows Phones and have been eagerly anticipating the release of Windows 8. We’re happy to announce that we will support both.”

See the full press release after the break.

Unite 2012: Unity Technologies Announces Support for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, Aug 22, 2012 — Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity multi-platform engine and development tools, today announced support of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms during the keynote at Unite 2012. Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 deployment options will be provided during the Unity 4 release cycle.

The Windows 8 deployment tool and Windows Phone 8 deployment add-on are among the most eagerly awaited platform additions within the Unity development community and will empower developers to push their interactive 3D content to Windows 8 powered computers and Windows 8 Phone mobile handsets.

“Our mission at Unity has always been to provide solutions for developers to effortlessly bring their work to as many different platforms as possible,” said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. “The Unity community has been asking for access to Windows Phones and have been eagerly anticipating the release of Windows 8. We’re happy to announce that we will support both.”

Unity Technologies and Microsoft are currently working hard to bring both deployment options to developers using Unity as soon as possible and will be discussing the process during a session at this Unite 2012, Unity’s dedicated developer conference.

“We are excited that the Unity community will now be given the opportunity to develop world class titles for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8,” said John Richards, Senior Director, Windows App Marketing at Microsoft. “The number of high quality Unity-authored games for the PC, Xbox, and mobile devices already created is staggering and we’re looking forward to seeing these products appear in the Windows Store and the Windows Phone Marketplace.”

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 deployment tools will both be part of the Unity 4 release cycle. For more information about Unity 4 and the other services that Unity Technologies offers, please visit http://unity3d.com/.

About Unity Technologies

Unity Technologies is the creator of Unity, an intuitive and flexible development platform used to make wildly creative and intelligently interactive 3D and 2D content. The “author once, deploy everywhere” capability ensures developers can publish to all of the most popular platforms. Unity Technologies boasts a thriving community of 1.2 million registered developers including large publishers, indie studios, students and hobbyists. Unity Technologies aggressively re-invests in its award-winning 3D development tools and democratization initiatives, such as the Asset Store digital content marketplace and Union game distribution service, in order to remain at the forefront of innovation. Unity Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Canada, China, Denmark, Lithuania, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Japan and Korea. For more information, visit: http://unity3d.com .

About Unite 2012 Unity Technologies is holding Unite 2012, its sixth annual developer conference, August 22 – 30, 2012 at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. Unite 2012 is an event for developers, publishers, enthusiasts and others interested in Unity to come together to learn more about the market-leading platform for creating high quality video games, training simulations, medical and architectural visualizations and other 3D interactive content — and how to get the most out of it.

Unite 2012 offers three days of learning including advanced hands-on class tutorials, technical sessions and an opportunity to attend awesome parties. Unity Technologies will host a Unity Training Day on August 21, the day before Unite 2012 to give new and inexperienced users a foundation for Unity development. For more information on Unite 2012 and the Unity Training Day, visit: http://unity3d.com/unite/ .

Unity and all other product names are trademarks of Unity Technologies or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All other product names and trademarks belong to their respective holders.