Unity mobile game development goes free

Mobile game development through the Unity game engine is now free, the middleware giant has announced.

In a move to further democratise game development, Unity is making its basic mobile tools free for independent developers and small studios.

It added that starting today, indies will be able to publish their games and apps to iOS and Android in the build menu.

Publishing options for other mobile platforms, such as BlackBerry and Windows Phone 8 will also be included “at no additional cost” once they are released.

Basic add-on tools previously cost indies as much as $800 to use for mobile game development.

Indies and small studios using the free version of Unity can also release their games commercially without buying licenses or sharing revenue with Unity.

“We were able to make Unity free for the web and for desktop computers a while ago, but have been dreaming of doing the same for mobile for what seems like forever,” said Unity CEO David Helgason.

“Mobile games development is possibly the most dynamic and exciting industry in the world, and it’s an honour to be able to help so many developers be so successful in fulfilling their visions and in building their businesses.”

Taking to Twitter, Unity rendering architect Aras Pranckevičius said that there will be some compensation for developers who had already paid for their licence.

He added however that he was unsure on the exact details of any compensation scheme.