Nintendo Considering Unity Support for 3DS

According to Nintendo Licensing Marketing Senior Manager Damon Baker, Nintendo is looking into bringing Unity to the 3DS.  

The two companies already have a previous relationship, as Nintendo's worked with Unity Technologies to bring Unity3D to the Wii U. No doubt, the move was an effort on Nintendo's part to attract third party and independent developers to the console. The partnership entailed that the Wii U development kit would come bundled with a free copy of Unity Pro. 

When asked about Nintendo's plans for the 3DS and Unity3D, Baker's response was as follows: "We've had those discussions and we are definitely looking at that.

"Our priority was to get the Wii U build [of Unity] up and done and ready. Because we need a test environment for it, it's taken a while for Unity to get finalized on Wii U, so that we can actually test against it. So that has been made available now and that is why we've got all of these [game] candidates waiting in the wings that are just going through the submission process at this point. 

"Now, we can move on to other platforms and see how we can make those compatible, either with Unity or with additional middleware providers as well." 

The 3DS isn't in the same dire situation as the Wii U in terms of sales, so Nintendo has the luxury of time to decide whether or not to bring Unity over to the handheld. The 3DS already boasts a large library of quality titles, but bringing over a couple more wouldn't hurt. Not to mention, this would allow Nintendo the chance to establish relationships with more developers and potentially court them to develop for the Wii U.  

  • srimasis
    Nintendo doesn't support indie developers, so what is the point behind unity3d support in 3ds??
    Reply
  • TheViper
    Nintendo doesn't support indie developers, so what is the point behind unity3d support in 3ds??
    You might want to look at Nintendo's indie support of the past 2 years. They are actually one of the better supporters of it. There are 120 indie games on the way to Wii U. Over 50 are Unity powered. You don't get those numbers without solid support.
    Reply
  • coolitic
    All I know is that this might send nintendo into a more open direction and hopefully (but unlikely any time soon) we might get metroid prime on pc. Im mostly dreaming here lol.
    Reply
  • airborne11b
    Where I would love to get my hands on a Metroid title, it will absolutely not be allowed to be created by an indie developer. Unity and indie support will result in non-nintendo IP based games making it to the console.Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Donky Kong, etc, are all tightly controlled by nintendo and developed by trusted AAA developers.
    Reply