Unity has previewed Unity 6.1, the next version of the game engine and real-time renderer.
The update, currently available in beta, and due for a stable release next month, is primarily focused on engine performance and stability, although there are a few new features.
For artists, key changes include a new Deferred+ rendering path in the Universal Render Pipeline, support for variable-rate shading, and improved DirectX 12 rendering performance.
The new features were shown during a session at this week’s Game Developers Conference, the recording of which is available on YouTube.
Deferred+ rendering in the URP, and Variable Rate Shading in the URP and HDRP
For artists, Unity 6.1 brings improvements in rendering performance, including a new Deferred+ rendering path in the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) for mobile and web games.
It improves performance over the existing Deferred rendering path in complex environments, using “advanced cluster-based culling” to support more real-time lights.
Both the URP and High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) get support for Variable Rate Shading, making it possible to set the shading rate for custom passes, improving performance without significantly affecting visuals.
Variable rate shading is supported via Vulkan on Android and PC, via DirectX 12 on Xbox and PC, and on the PlayStation 5 Pro.
Improved DirectX 12 rendering performance
Developers of Windows and Xbox games also get improvements in DirectX 12 performance, with a new split graphics job threading mode submitting commands to the GPU faster.
According to Unity, it leads to a reduction in CPU time of “up to 40%”.
DirectX 12 ray tracing performance has also been improved via Solid Angle Culling, to avoid rendering very small or distant instances, improving CPU performance by “up to 60%”.
There are also a number of more general optimizations, leading to a reduction in ray tracing memory usage of “up to 75%”.
New Project Auditor to troubleshoot project performance
The other new features primarily affect programmers as opposed to artists.
They include a new Project Auditor for static analysis, which analyzes scripts, assets, and projects settings to help identify performance bottlenecks in a project.
Build automation is also now integrated into the Unity Editor.
Platform changes
There are also changes to platform support, particularly for Android games, including support for the larger 16KB page sizes introduced in Android 15.
It is also now possible to match Vulkan graphics configurations to different Android devices, filtering by vendor, brand, product name, and OS, API and driver versions.
Developers of extended reality experiences on Android get a number of changes, including integration with key Unity toolsets like AR Foundation and the XR Interaction Toolkit.
Unity 6.1 also introduces support for Instant Games on Facebook and Messenger, and WebGPU support for mobile web games.
Price, system requirements and release date
Unity 6.1 is currently in public beta. The stable release is due in April 2025. The Unity Editor is compatible with Windows 10+, macOS 11.0+ and Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 Linux.
Free Personal subscriptions are now available for artists and small studios earning under $200,000/year, and include all of the core features.
Pro subscriptions, for mid-sized studios, now cost $2,200/year. Enterprise subscriptions, for studios with revenue over $25 million/year, are priced on demand.
Read an overview of the new features in Unity 6.1 on Unity’s blog
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