Unity offers channel to PlayStation Phone

Unity will use its content delivery service, Union, to allow developers to port games onto Sony Ericsson‘s new PlayStation Phone.

Yesterday Sony revealed it had struck a partnership with Unity, creators of the hugely popular 3D game engine, to provide a stream on new games on the Xperia Play smartphone.

That stream of content will be channelled via Union, the engine maker’s business unit that aims to syndicate any single game across a wide range of devices.

Unity typically takes a twenty per cent revenue cut from games ported via Union.

In return, Sony Ericsson has pledged to “prominently feature” Union games on the Xperia Play through its games recommender application.

By opting in to the Union scheme, Unity developers will have their game evaluated by the engine vendor to see if the project can be ported to a whole range of other platforms.

Unity will build a profile of the developer/studio, and with its industry links will pitch the projects to a number of publishers and digital portal owners.

By making it free for developers to opt-in, Unity hopes its users will open up access to a greater number of revenue streams.

Via a customised API, Unity has already ported three key games to the Xperia Play. Racer by Luma Arcade, Guerilla Bob by Angry Mob Studios and AirAttack HD by Art in Games have all been optimised for the Xperia Play.

Unity will also pre-integrate and optimise its engine for Xperia Play, and will allow developers to build for the platform, via an engine update, within months.

“Sony Ericsson has a beautiful, ground-breaking gaming smartphone on its hands with the Xperia Play,” said Brett Seyler, General Manager of Union.

“Through our partnership with Sony Ericsson and Union, we look forward to working with our developers to deliver mind-blowing gaming experiences for consumers.