Unity adding Xbox One support in 2014 [Update: 2014, not this year]
Update: It turns out Helgason misspoke, as Unity representatives got in touch with Joystiq and clarified that Unity will not be available on Xbox One until 2014. Here's the statement from Helgason: "During an interview with OXM in July, I misspoke and suggested that Unity for Xbox One would be available sometime in 2013. At that time, work had only just begun on those tools so while there will be a very few developers in very early testing phases this year, the Xbox One tools for Unity will not be widely available to developers until 2014. We are currently hard at work on the technology and are making great progress but we are not yet ready to announce any specific release windows. I apologize for any confusion my statement may have caused."
Original post: Unity on Xbox One will be officially supported sometime later this year, Unity CEO David Helgason told OXM. This collaboration is part of a new partnership between Unity and Microsoft announced this summer, which will see Unity not only on Xbox One, but also Windows Phone and PC.
"Depending on which platform there are different costs, but the fundamental thing is that the tools themselves are the same," Helgason said of the process involving exporting game code to Microsoft platforms. "And once you build what you want to build you can just export it directly. So now we're adding, in collaboration with Microsoft, Xbox One support later this year and we also worked with them to make the Windows store export free."
Unity is one of the most popular cross-platform game development suites offered today and the backbone of popular games such as Kentucky Route Zero, Gone Home, Surgeon Simulator 2013, Project Eternity and Deus Ex: The Fall. The company recently offered its mobile development tools to indies and small studios free of charge. The next update, version 4.3, is due this fall and will focus on providing developers with specific tools aiding development of 2D games.
