With Unity 6, we’re dramatically accelerating the process of creating multiplayer games by providing a seamless, end-to-end solution that supports not just development and quick iteration, but also the launch and growth of your multiplayer experiences.
Quickly experiment with multiplayer solutions
The Multiplayer Center is the first-ever streamlined guidance tool designed to onboard you into the realm of multiplayer development. It guides you through prompts to help you select the packages and services you need for your multiplayer game, without ever leaving the Editor.
Interactive guidance tailored to your project’s multiplayer specifications, access to educational materials, and shortcuts for rapidly accelerating your ability to experiment and respond to feedback.
Multiplayer Center showing curated list multiplayer tools and services
Experiment with multiplayer features and services
New widgets make it easier than ever to seamlessly integrate multiplayer features involving integration with backend services.
Multiplayer Widgets dramatically reduce integration and configuration time, so you can focus on what matters most: experimenting with features and iterating on your gameplay.
You can access the widgets as a standalone package, or from the Multiplayer Center.
Includes services such as Multiplay, Relay, Lobby, and Vivox to enable you quickly assess the compatibility and relevance of services for your specific game needs. For example, integrating the Relay service into the Editor makes it easy to create sessions and connect playtesters early, accelerating your quality iteration loop.
Quick Join Session feature being added directly into a scene
Validate multiplayer gameplay in-Editor
The Multiplayer Play Mode package validates your multiplayer implementation and improves gameplay quality early across runtime processes for earlier testing and tighter iteration cycles.
Test multiplayer functionality across separate processes without leaving the Unity Editor and can simulate up to four players (the main Editor player plus three virtual players) simultaneously on the same development device without having to create new builds.
New Play Mode Scenarios enable creators to deliver a first-playable experience with live players by integrating their test cycles into real-world environments, scenarios, and tools. Play Mode Scenarios currently support desktop and dedicated server environments.
Configuring Play Mode Scenarios for multiple instances
Ship resilient, client-hosted games
Create resilient and cost-efficient client-hosted games using Distributed Authority (Beta).
We added support for Distributed Authority mode in Netcode for GameObjects 2.0 with the new Multiplayer Services package. Distributed Authority gives clients distributed ownership of authority over spawned network objects during a game session. The netcode simulation workload is distributed across clients, while the network state is coordinated through a high-performance cloud backend which Unity provides (additional costs apply for this service).
Distributed Authority also supports host migration, making it possible to transfer the state authority between clients when one disconnects - without disrupting the continuity and stability of your game.
Experimental Asteroids sample running in Distributed Authority mode
Build ambitious server-hosted games
To facilitate the deployment of a dedicated server, the Dedicated Server package consolidates the dedicated game server workflow in the Editor with a solution that enables the deployment of server builds - both locally and to Multiplay Hosting - to accelerate the multiplayer development process.
You can now switch a project between the server and client role, without needing to create another project. To make switching a project easier, you can now use Multiplayer roles to distribute GameObjects and components across the client and server.
Multiplayer roles offer more granular control over which multiplayer role (Client, Server) you use in each build target. Specifically:
- Content Selection: Provides UI and API for selecting which content (GameObjects, Components) should be present/removed in the different multiplayer roles
- Automatic Selection: Provides UI and API for selecting which component types should be automatically removed in the different multiplayer roles
- Safety Checks: Activates warnings that help detect potential null reference exceptions caused by stripping objects for a multiplayer role
Server build optimizations by separating assets
Connect players together effortlessly
Integrating all the products and services you need to build a multiplayer game can be challenging.
The new Multiplayer Services package massively reduces the amount of code it takes to build your multiplayer game, while streamlining dependencies management across services and netcodes.
The Multiplayer Services package is a targeted suite of tools you can use to add multiplayer features into your game. Set up Lobby, Relay, Distributed Authority, Matchmaker or Multiplay Hosting, based on your needs. A new session system provides a unified developer interface to build your multiplayer game loop and manage session and player state.
You can create and manage peer-to-peer (P2P), Dedicated Game Server, and Distributed Authority hosted online sessions.Players can join sessions through matchmaking, a Join Code, or by browsing a list of active sessions.
To streamline development, sessions integrate directly with Netcode for GameObjects, Netcode for Entities and the Unity Transport package.
Session management experience in the inspector
Successful multiplayer games depend on carefully curated matches to promote player engagement. Unity’s safety solutions are tailored to welcome competitive gamers in spaces that promote security for players at all levels.
Vivox communications and safety tools rely on intelligent, AI-based detection systems to monitor voice and text chat and promote positive behavior. Tools for actively addressing toxic behaviors help to cultivate communities of respect and camaraderie in your game.
Safe Voice uses both semantic and acoustic analysis to generate sharp insights, reducing the burden on human moderators tasked with reviewing evidence. New rule-based moderation actions are designed to significantly increase the productivity and morale of moderation teams.
Further, the new, innovative Safe Text platform features an Adaptive Chat Filter that can actively screen and filter toxic content in real-time. Context Analysis can use contextual information parsed from entire conversations to support Safe Text and accurately identify toxic content which typical filters miss.
Combining existing Vivox Voice and Text Chat services with next gen analysis tools makes Vivox communication and safety tools an end-to-end, unified safety platform that game studios of any size can rely on.
End-to-end AI-powered moderation platform
Multiplayer Tools improvements
Multiplayer Tools package version 2.2.1 updates workflows for multiplayer game development in Unity. Several improvements ease the development process and optimize performance with Netcode for GameObjects 2.0. This version also provides enhanced support for Distributed Authority.
Netcode for GameObjects improvements
We are changing the license for Netcode for GameObjects version 2.0.0 and future releases to the Unity Companion License (UCL License). More information can be found in the Multiplayer development status and next milestones - September 2024 post.
Netcode for GameObjects version 2.0 delivers new support for Distributed Authority and best practices in game development.
You can experiment with core Netcode for GameObjects features through practical examples and In-Editor tutorials from the Multiplayer Use Cases Bitesize Sample. The sample includes several scenes to illustrate ways you can implement individual APIs and systems, such as client-server communication, state synchronization, and other typical components of multiplayer games.
Netcode for Entities improvements
Netcode for Entities version 1.3 includes several usability improvements as we continue to focus on optimizing the experience of developing scalable multiplayer games.
Try it with the new Megacity Metro demo game
See how Netcode for Entities can help you build massive worlds for multi-platform with Megacity Metro. Get the demo today to understand how Unity 6 makes setting up multiplayer services, networked vehicle implementation, configurable rule-based matches, and immersive player communications faster and easier.