Unity boss wants new engine "at the heart of game development for years to come"

Unity has today launched its new engine globally, Unity 6, which its CEO wants "at the heart of game development for years to come".

The company promises its new suite of tools will allow for quicker and more efficient game development, with a focus on "end-to-end multiplayer workflows", tools for targeting mobile web, and "new graphics capabilities" to boost CPU performance.

The announcement follows a tough time for Unity as it aims to turn around its reputation with developers after last year's controversial Runtime Fee debacle.

Time Ghost | Unity 6

That fee was heavily criticised by game developers and then, last month, cancelled entirely.

With that cancellation, CEO Matt Bromberg described the company's aim of "democratising game development" by allowing games to be built by anyone. "I’ve been able to connect with many of you over the last three months, and I’ve heard time and time again that you want a strong Unity, and understand that price increases are a necessary part of what enables us to invest in moving gaming forward. But those increases needn’t come in a novel and controversial new form," he said.

Unity 6 has been "built, tested and refined in partnership with developers from all over the world", with the company committed to long-term support.

"We are relentlessly focused on delivering tools to help game developers build games more quickly and efficiently while also facilitating innovation," said Bromberg. "We're going to do everything we can to ensure that Unity 6 is at the heart of game development for years to come."

Unity has also released resources to show off the new toolset's capabilities. That includes the conceptual cinematic demo Time Ghost, you can watch for yourself above, as well as two playable demos: mobile game Fantasy Kingdom and cross-platform multiplayer game Megacity Metro.

Unity also began the year with a round of layoffs, eliminating around 25 percent of its workforce as part of a "company reset".

Interestingly, there's no mention of AI in Unity's initial announcement, despite the fact it previously stated Unity 6 would arrive with "responsibly sourced" AI tools.

In a report earlier this year, Unity claimed 62 percent of studios are using AI at some point during game development, with animation as the primary use case.