Microsoft Studios Gets Access to Unity Tools

Microsoft's annual Build Conference yesterday featured an announcement that Microsoft was collaborating with Unity Technologies, the makers of the Unity developer tools.

According to the post on the Xbox Wire, developers now have access to the Unity development tools for free. This will allow them to harness unity for games on both the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One with features for multiplayer, SmartGlass, enhanced Kinect functionality and cloud operations.

Steven Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President and Chief Evangelist of Microsoft's Developer & Platform Evangelism organization said, “Unity has established itself not only as an incredible development toolset and engine, but as a significant force for creative freedom and innovation in the games development community. With Unity’s commitment to support Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Xbox One and Xbox 360, Microsoft’s gaming ecosystem will benefit from the wealth of ideas and imagination flowing from the Unity games development community.”

Their plan with Unity is to help indie game and app developers bring their games and experiences to Microsoft systems.

What do you think about this partnership? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.