IRVINE, CALIFORNIA (March 22, 2013) – Oculus VR, Inc., creators of the highly anticipated Oculus Rift, announced that it has partnered with Unity Technologies, developer of the Unity multi-platform engine and development tools, to provide every Rift developer with a four-month Unity Pro trial license, free of charge. The extended trial is designed to let Rift developers leverage Unity Pro to develop incredibly rich and immersive virtual reality gaming and interactive experiences.
“Unity provides game developers with amazing tools that bring joy to the process of creating games, while also lowering the financial and time barriers of high-end production,” said David Helgason, CEO and co-founder, Unity Technologies. “The next generation of video games will not only be found on consoles, but also on PCs, mobile devices and in the cloud though none of these platforms offer the ability to step into the experience. That is where the Oculus Rift comes in. We’re partnering with Oculus to give Unity developers the ability to create the most immersive gaming experiences yet.”
The Oculus Rift development kit, combined with a four-month Unity Pro trial license, will give developers the time, the integration code, the intuitive toolset and access to thousands of ready-made assets from the Unity Asset Store to create VR games and interactive content across a range of platforms. The extended Unity Pro trial license is available to any developer who purchases an Oculus Rift development kit.
“The Unity engine’s innovative design, ease of use, and flexibility have helped game developers of all skill levels develop some of the most unique games on the market,” said Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus. “Like Unity, we share the desire to help developers create games unlike any other, and we look forward to seeing our combined technologies transformed into virtual reality.”
The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that allows users to step into the game. It provides an immersive, stereoscopic 3D experience with a huge field of view—110 degrees diagonally—and overcomes the latency problems that have plagued previous VR gaming headsets, where movement in the game lags behind movement of the player’s head. Development kits for the Oculus Rift, which game developers can use to create Oculus-ready VR applications and interactive content, will begin shipping to backers at the end of March 2013.
The Unity Pro extended trial license will be available through the Oculus Developer Center starting in April.
