Facebook expands ties with Unity to make cross-platform 3D games easier to build

Facebook expanded its alliance with Unity Technologies today to make it easier to build 3D games that work on the social network, whether those games run on iOS, Android, or Facebook’s Canvas platform on the web.

It’s difficult to create a game that runs on Facebook, on the web and, without modification, also runs on mobile platforms. But Facebook and Unity are working on this problem for two reasons. First, making cross-platform games easier to build will help developers reduce costs and get more development efficiency. On top of that, many Unity games use high-end 3D graphics, an area where Facebook has been lacking. By making Unity work on all aspects of Facebook’s platform, the social network can attract more 3D hardcore games and midcore games, titles that appeal to hardcore gamers but only take a few minutes to play. The companies revealed the effort today at the Unity developer conference in Vancouver, Canada.