Hello Unity Team!
I was wondering if there was any possibility of the Unity Editor being added to iPadOS and Android devices in the future.
Mobile technology has advanced significantly in recent years. For example, the latest iPad is actually more powerful than its laptop counterpart. Android’s tablet lineups have also become considerably faster. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 regularly has more idle RAM than my work laptop (which runs Unity very well).
Schools would benefit a lot from this. Being able to incorporate Unity-related classes as well as C# classes in high school settings would be fantastic for students.
Especially with the current financial strain, I know many people who cannot get into game design simply because they cannot afford to buy a good computer for game engines. Unity’s whole motto is that they are cross-platform—everywhere—it’s their biggest advantage in the industry. That’s why Unity is so effective for developers; they need one engine to publish anywhere. But the editor needs to be more accessible to aspiring developers (and not only aspiring, but also young developers)! It might be worth noting that smaller indie devs who would be able to use mobile devices they already have could then put their money (for what would have been a computer) into hiring musicians, sprite artists or help pay their team. It’d go a long way.
Competitors have already proven that mobile devices can run game engines very well. Again, my aforementioned Samsung S9 can run Godot, stream high-quality YouTube videos, have several notes open, a code editor, and Google Messages all simultaneously. Mobile apps are very efficient, and Godot has proven it can operate very well. It even takes advantage of Samsung Dex, an Android desktop interface.
Apple’s WWDC is live-streamed to millions every year. It could be a huge deal if the latest iPad devices were shown to run the Unity game engine. The same applies to Google IO and Samsung SDC—so many people would be able to see the world’s most popular game engine running on everyday technology. A final point I found valuable to add is that mobile devices like tablets are significantly more efficient at processes than laptop devices. For example, while my laptop completely dwarfs my phone’s battery, it only lasts for about 2-3 hours on the Godot Engine, while my phone could run the same app for 4-5 hours. Those extra hours mean a lot to developers!
Adding the Unity editor to mobile devices like iPadOS and Android would extend the Unity editor to a ton of new aspiring developers, extending accessibility to young developers, budding hobbyists, or small time indie devs, and some would simply benefit from the extra flexibility. Classrooms would be able to offer more game design classes as it would be more accessible, and competitors like Godot have proven game engines on mobile devices work exceptionally well. I guess my only question is if it’s in the roadmaps at all?
As a personal anecdote, in high school my best computer I had was my 2007 iMac which had poor specs all around, yet, could comfortably run Unity 2019 for hours upon hours with very little trouble. Being underpowered forced me to learn how to write efficient code and be intentional about GameObject management. Now I have a much better workstation that allows me to make whatever I want. Regardless, with how much more abundant RAM, and ample processing power modern tech has, bringing the Unity editor will empower the next generation of developers.
