Published on: 01/03/2023
Unity partners with 13 Web3 firms to expand into blockchain gaming
The world’s leading platform for creating and growing real-time 3D (RT3D) content, Unity, announced plans to expand into the blockchain gaming industry on Tuesday. This move is expected to open up new markets for blockchain game developers and players.
Unity has selected 13 Web3 companies — Aikon ORE ID, Algorand, Altura, Aptos Labs, Dapper Labs, Immutable X, Infura, Metamask, Nefta, Pocketful of Quarters, Solana, Tezos and Truffle — to participate in its Verified Solutions Program (VSP).
The VSP program is a collaboration between Unity and the selected Web3 companies to make third-party software development kits (SDKs), plugins and editor applications compatible with all Unity product releases in the future. The SDKs developed by these companies will be available on the Unity Asset Store.
“We are thrilled to team up with Unity and join their Verified Solutions program. This is an incredible opportunity for Altura to showcase our technology and bring the benefits of decentralized gaming to Unity’s massive user base.”
Majd Hailat, founder of Altura
Altura founder Majd Haila asserted that decentralization will revolutionize the gaming industry and that Altura is excited to lead this movement. It aims to “make this technology more accessible to both players and developers,” and the “collaboration with Unity represents a major stride toward that goal.”
As per Unity’s website, it will only verify Web3 tools that meet its criteria of legitimacy, dependability and evolution. Thus, the tools need to be developed by public-oriented companies, have dependable functionalities and support and are regularly maintained by their creators.
Unity’s move into web3 gaming
Web3 has become a prominent sector that can no longer be ignored, with many Web2 companies now venturing into it.
Given its widespread use in the gaming sector, Unity’s entry into Web3 attracted significant attention. According to Forbes data from 2022, games built on Unity currently have approximately 2.9 billion monthly users and over five billion game downloads in a month.
Founded in 2004, Unity is a game development platform enabling low- and no-code game development. This feature is especially attractive to creators in the Web3 space who do not possess coding skills.
Unity aims to offer game developers the necessary resources to connect with the rising Web3 gaming industry. Developers can integrate blockchain technologies such as NFTs and the metaverse to enhance gameplay experiences through the decentralization storefront in the Unity Asset Store.
In this particular context, decentralization mainly pertains to ownership models in games which enable players to produce and acquire in-game resources that can be sold or exchanged.
“The gaming industry is rapidly growing, and the Web3 gaming sector is attracting significant investment,” MetaMask said on social media. “Our listing in Unity will bring Web3 values to the gaming industry. It’s a whole new era for gaming devs.”
Unity’s Web3 gaming tools represent a significant step forward for the future of blockchain games. Numerous independent game developers have employed Unity’s software for game development. Some well-known Web3 games, such as The Sandbox, Decentraland and Dogamí were developed using Unity’s software.
Web3 game developers have eagerly waited for Unity’s entry into the space with its own tools, as they have already optimized their products for Unity’s gaming engine.
In March 2022, Joyride, a Web3 gaming platform, raised $14 million to assist developers in creating their games on Unity. Later, in October of the same year, blockchain infrastructure firm ChainSafe raised nearly $19 million to help developers connect their games to Unity.
