Unity 5 adds native support for SteamVR

Valve’s Vive headset is the latest VR platform to be supported by Unity out of the box.

The engine previously added base compatibility for the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR and PlayStation VR, leaving Valve and HTC’s PC device as the only major headset left out in the cold.

That has now changed, with Unity 5 introducing native SteamVR support, as well as a rending plug-in which optimises ‘fidelity and performance’ for the virtual reality platform.

Speaking via video at Unity’s inaugural Vision VR and AR summit, Valve chief Gabe Newell acknowledged the technology’s existing wide usage among those developing for VR.

"We made many of our Vive demos using Unity, and continue to use it today in VR development," he said.

"Through that process, and in working with VR developers, we found some opportunities to make Unity even more robust and powerful for us and really want to share those benefits with all VR content creators."

Newell also revealed during his speech that all Vision attendees would be provided with a free Vive Pre kit.