Unity CEO: 'I'd be redundant if game engines were our only focus'

Unity CEO David Helgas has revealed that developing the Unity engine isn't the company's sole focus.

Speaking with GI.biz at Unity conference Unite last week, Helgas explained, "There's nothing wrong with making a great engine and just keeping at it - and we will keep at it - but if that was the only goal we ever had I'd probably make myself redundant, actually."

Unity has grown from an engine creator to a publisher of sorts, enabling indie developer to produce titles for platforms where typically they would come up against the same barriers as larger studios.

"In some very abstract way we're a service provider," Helgas continued, "but a service provider that always wants to leverage technology. I don't see us as a normal publisher: funding games, doing all the leg-work. Union is technologically leveraged because we can do all the ports in a semi-automated way."

The key, Helgas explained, is to basically know the market and pre-empt shifts in new platforms, "A lot of it is that these new platforms are really slow moving. The companies behind them are really savvy - it's not like they're particularly stupid - but some of them really don't understand games, they don't know the space. We've had deals lined up where the hardware platform was basically cancelled."

"There were a lot of those logistical challenges," Helgas continued, "and building the team and the processes. It was sort of like building an entirely new company. The Asset Store is also a bit like that. They're kind of own their own in many ways, and have the freedom to make their own decisions."

Thanks GI.biz.