Version confusion

Ok, so I’ve attempted to get started on “Unity Analytics” with 2020.3 LTS. My experience so far is that the documentation I find by googling does not match the available classes, specifically AnalyticsEvent described as the key class in the documentation is simply missing. When I enabled UA in the project settings and linked to the dashboard (which loaded forever, prompting me to manually open the base dashboard URL and navigating to analytics) I also found there is a “beta” and “legacy analytics”, so the question then is which is which? Which version does Unity supply me with and do I need to install another one?

I will keep looking and might be that I figure it out on my own in a few minutes from now (or not). Presumably there is a very simple answer to this question that obvious to existing users - but not so obvious based off the conflicting and potentially out of date information available in online documentation and inside Unity.

Hi Petter,

We’re working on sharpening up our documentation to avoid any confusion between the Legacy Analytics and the Unity Gaming Services Analytics which is currently in Beta. Could you elaborate on how you came across Analytics in both the Editor and the Unity dashboard?

In the meantime the FAQs that have been prepared should help resolve any confusion around the two versions. Unity currently supplies you with Legacy Analytics which is built-in to the Editor, this version of Analytics is not currently being developed as we are investing in its replacement - UGS Analytics (Beta).

Since you’re on 2020.3 LTS I recommend that you sign up to the Unity Gaming Services Open Beta to get access to the Analytics (Beta) product as it already has some key benefits over the Legacy Analytics such as improved data refresh times, player engagement tools and much more in the pipeline. Documentation for the Analytics (Beta) can be found here.

Hope this helps!

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If you choose to stay with legacy Analytics for now, you would want to use Analytics.CustomEvent

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Analytics.Analytics.CustomEvent.html

Thanks!

I am on the beta. I realized I’m sitting on a mildly old LTS (2020.3.12f1) so not sure how relevant my experience is, but basically:

  • I started by going to project setting to enable analytics (requiring starting the game once in editor, etc.)
  • AnalyticsEvent wasn’t available so I had to install com.unity.analytics.standardevents though package manager, and then later com.unity.analytics because I found no DataPrivacy button. Took a while to figure this out…
  • However, then I found a lot of pages (manual, forum) hinting that AnalyticsEvent is obsolete, so the above seemed for naught… except there are also some claims to the contrary.
  • Seeing my visit_screen events show up in legacy analytics meant I thought I should instead move to Analytics.CustomEvent… but it is however not working (see separate thread).

Just an example of documentation issues: The most current documentation for Unity 2021 claims that I should be able to create funnels (https://docs.unity3d.com/2021.2/Documentation/Manual/UnityAnalyticsFunnels.html), yet that is contradicted by a post this summer by a Unity staff member who suggests setting up funnels manually ( https://discussions.unity.com/t/860717/2 ). Nor do I find any option to set up funnels except in legacy analytics.

Yeah, there should be reasons for all of this but working in such an ambiguous environment where information (pages as well as the C# APIs themselves) is frequently misleading isn’t pleasant.

Correct, funnels are not currently supported in the Analytics beta, but is on our roadmap for early next year. We are also working to consolidate the documentation.