Unity sponsoring indie event

Unity Technologies has revealed it will be a Gold Sponsor of next year’s Independent Games Festival at GDC, accelerating the firm’s push into the burgeoning indie games scene.

The Unity engine itself is a game development platform for PC, Mac, iPhone and Wii; four systems that are often prioritised by startup indie developers and studios.

Unity itself has allured huge customers with its engine, licensing it to the likes of EA, but at the Independent Games Festival the company will be looking to attract the topsoil of indie developers eager to replicate the success of Braid and World of Goo.

As part of its strategy, Unity will be handing out Unity Pro to all IGF finalists. In fact, it is willing to offer its platform to all individuals within each finalist team.

Nicholas Francis, chief creative officer at Unity, said he was proud of the deal and would like to hand out “a lot of Unity Pro copies” at the event.

“We’re honored to be sponsoring the IGF,” he said. “Unity started out as an indie game studio, so in a way this feels like coming home. We can’t wait to have some of these talented developers see what we do.”

The Game Developers Conference will be held in San Francisco from March 2010.

IGF chairman Simon Carless said he appreciates Unity’s support for a sector “that continues to grow and flourish.”