Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to present to you our Unity 4 open beta program for Windows Store apps. At that time, many developers were asking whether Unity 4 would support development of Windows Phone 8 apps as well. Today, I’m pleased to satisfy your curiosity…

I’m very proud to announce the launch of the Unity 4 open beta for Windows Phone 8 apps! We welcome any experienced Unity developer to enroll in this latest open beta. It’s a chance to preview Unity 4 for the Windows Phone 8 platform and get a foothold in an all-new marketplace that is looking for great games. As a beta participant, you’ll test new technology, report bugs and help us to make it better.

If you enroll in both the Unity 4 Windows Store apps and Windows Phone 8 apps beta programs, you can develop games for the entire Windows ecosystem. People around the world can play your games on computers running Windows XP/7/8, Windows RT tablets and Windows Phone 8 mobiles.

How can my team get access to beta builds ?

In order to participate in this beta program, you need to register here. The open beta consists of two parts:

Participants can discuss issues, ask questions, give feedback to Unity engineers and report bugs via the mailing list. Please note that this can result in significant email traffic.

Windows Phone 8 beta builds, info on how to get started and all other relevant information is hosted on the beta site.

In 24 hours after your registration you will receive a welcome email with instructions on how to proceed.

What is the state of technology ?

Unity 4 Windows Phone 8 support has not yet reached maturity: we are still working on performance optimizations. There are also bugs and some features missing. However, we feel experienced developers can take advantage of this early technology and already ship games on Windows Phone 8. In fact, we have a few games published on Windows Phone Store:

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At this point we really need feedback from you, the game creators working on real games. By joining our beta testing program, you can help us accelerate development to ensure this is a great product for all Unity customers.

How can I publish my games to Windows Phone Store ?

You will be able to port your existing games to the Windows Phone 8 apps platform using the Unity alpha/beta builds. We will provide a two month trial license key for all registered beta participants that will unlock Windows Phone 8 app platform support in the Unity toolset. Please note that any project deployed with a trial license will be watermarked and not for commercial release. Developers who wish to publish their games on Windows Phone Store using our alpha/beta builds should contact the Unity Sales Department.

The Unity 4 Windows Store add-on is a requirement in order to publish your Windows 8 x86, Windows RT, or WP8 project to the Windows Store or Windows Phone Store. This licensing option comes in the same two flavors you all know and love: Basic and Pro. However, if you simply want to deploy your game to the Windows desktop without going through the store, then there are no additional licenses for you to purchase. Regular desktop application development for Windows was, is and will be a part of the existing Unity product.

When will Windows Phone 8 apps support be released?

Windows Phone 8 apps support in Unity 4 is going to be released after 4.2 is shipped. We are working very hard to make this another top-quality Unity feature. We will take the time necessary to polish it. Still, this does not prevent you from making awesome games with our beta builds !

Please note that Unity 4 Windows Store apps and Unity 4 Windows Phone 8 apps beta builds are incompatible at this point, so users are advised to have parallel installations of beta software bundles: Unity 4 editor and platform plugin.

PLEASE BE AWARE

Please do not enter this open beta program if you have any time sensitive dependencies to release your Unity product in the Windows Phone Store. This Unity Beta product will not be fully functional nor contain a full commercial feature locked set of tools. New users to Unity should wait to develop in Unity for Windows Phone Store until after the public commercial release. We appreciate you carefully understanding what your expectations are and not depending on this Beta Product for any of your deadlines. We’re excited to progress this product with the help of you, your team, and our incredible user community. Depending on the number of people who register for the program, it could take time for us to process the requests and send you the link to the beta site. Thanks for your help and patience in advance.