Unity, one of the most important game engines for developers worldwide, has played a crucial role in the history of China’s game industry.Since Unity officially entered the Chinese market in 2012, the number of registered developers has skyrocketed from an initial 200,000 to 5 million today. Not only has Unity witnessed the golden age of China’s gaming industry, but it has also documented the journeys of countless development teams from their founding to their success.
It is no exaggeration to say that, over the past 10 years, the Unity engine has supported half of China’s gaming industry. According to 2024 data, 76 percent of newly released mobile games in China were developed using the Unity engine, and 73 percent of the world’s top 1,000 mobile games were built on Unity.
Building on a solid industrial foundation, Unity China was officially established in 2022 and began operating independently. Two years later, the “Tuanjie Engine”—a game engine developed specifically for the Chinese market—was launched.To date, “Tuanjie Engine” has achieved groundbreaking milestones, including 400,000 downloads, approximately 30,000 monthly active developers, and over 13 million app downloads, making it an indispensable tool for game developers in China.
The “Unite 2025” conference, to be held at the W Hotel on the Bund in Shanghai from October 23 to 24, marks its 10th anniversary. This event will be more than just a forum for technical exchange; it will serve as a key platform for the Unite engine to showcase the results of its “global technical synchronization and local innovation.”
01
Cutting-Edge Technology: Synchronizing Technologies Through the Use of AI
The core value of the “Unity Engine” lies in driving deep innovation tailored to the specific needs of the Chinese market while maintaining technical alignment with the global version of Unity. Zhang Junbo, CEO of Unity China, once stated, “The unique needs of the Chinese gaming market are becoming global trends.“From the explosive growth of mini-games—which have grown from zero to 40 billion—to the global expansion of HarmonyOS and the widespread adoption of smart cockpits in new energy vehicles, these opportunities unique to China require specialized technical support,” said Zhang Junbo, CEO of Unity China.”
During the "Unity Engine" sessions at "Unite 2025," leading technical experts from various fields gathered to provide in-depth explanations on a wide range of topics, including AI tools, engine features, production processes, and performance optimization.
At the cutting edge of technology, AI is an unavoidable topic, and it is also one of the fields where building localization capabilities is most critical. At Unite 2025, AI technology will clearly take center stage, making it arguably the “conference with the greatest emphasis on AI.”
At this conference, Dankei Engine will unveil a fully upgraded suite of AI tools that covers the entire process, from Q&A development to content creation. During the Dankei Engine special session on October 23, software engineers from Unity China will provide detailed introductions to two of our flagship products:
As an intelligent Q&A assistant deeply integrated into the Tuanjie Engine ecosystem, “Tuanjie AI Assistant” not only provides immediate answers to common questions—such as code debugging and feature implementation—but, more importantly, now supports a new “Agent Mode.”This provides developers with a true “AI development partner,” enabling them to receive continuous, context-aware, and intelligent support throughout complex development processes.
“Unity AI Graph,” unveiled for the first time, focuses on AIGC generation capabilities, providing developers with an efficient AI workflow editing environment and supporting the automatic generation of a wide variety of content.From concept design to asset creation, AI Graph significantly streamlines the traditional asset production process, enabling creative ideas to be transformed into actual game content more quickly.
In addition to our own initiatives, the participation of local ecosystem partners is also a key element of the Unity Engine’s AI strategy.For example, while 3D content creation has always been one of the most time- and labor-intensive processes in game development, the introduction of AI is expected to significantly improve efficiency. In this regard, the lineup of guests at this year’s Unite conference is truly impressive, featuring a gathering of major companies and top players in the field of large-scale 3D AI generation models.
In terms of rendering technology, the “Solidarity Engine” has adopted a realistic approach and plans to unify the core rendering features for the global version—including GPU rendering optimizations and cross-platform super-resolution—in the second half of this year.At the same time, it will introduce two proprietary technologies: real-time dynamic global illumination and parallel rendering. The former achieves effects similar to ray tracing on mobile devices, while the latter reduces stuttering by fully utilizing multi-core CPUs.
This technical strategy reflects Unity China’s perspective on the market. The Chinese gaming market is still dominated by mobile games, and developers’ primary concern is how to achieve high-quality visual effects within the constraints of limited hardware. Rather than pursuing the ultimate technical specifications, there is a tendency to prioritize practicality and cost-effectiveness.
One of Tuanjie Engine’s greatest competitive advantages is its comprehensive cross-platform support. From mini-games to mobile devices, and from HarmonyOS to PC platforms, Tuanjie Engine truly enables “develop once, deploy to multiple platforms.”Developers need only manage a single set of project files; the engine automatically optimizes and adapts to the hardware characteristics of each platform, reducing the time required for multiplatform porting—which traditionally took several months—to a single-click conversion.
In the “Unity Engine” session at “Unite 2025,” the Unity China technical team will provide a detailed explanation of the implementation of these cross-platform technologies and how they support developers in conducting multiplatform development more efficiently.In addition, technical experts from major game companies such as Tencent Tianmei Studio and NetEase will share practical know-how on cross-platform development using the Unity Engine.
02
Localization Strategy: Accurately Meeting the Needs of Chinese Developers
In 2022, Unity China was officially established and began operating independently, while also launching the development of a localization-focused engine. Unity China’s independent operation represents more than just a reorganization of its organizational structure; it symbolizes a deep understanding of and rapid response to the needs of the Chinese market.At this year’s Unite conference, several sessions focused specifically on localization, fully embodying Unity China’s dual mission of “maintaining key features of the global version while developing proprietary technologies tailored to local needs.”
The explosive growth of the mini-game market is a unique phenomenon in China's gaming industry.Unity China has keenly identified this trend; the number of mini-games developed using its engine has already exceeded 1,400. In addition to fully supporting major traffic platforms such as WeChat, TikTok, and Kuaishou, the company is also continuously expanding into smaller and medium-sized traffic channels such as TapTap and Xiaomi.
In contrast, Zhang Junbo, CEO of Unity China, has a clear strategic vision and stated the following in a previous interview: “We uniformly abstract functions such as platform-specific logins, advertising, and data transmission, and convert them into Unity code.Developers only need to write the code once, and we automatically adapt it to the formats required by each platform, thereby reducing the technical burden on developers and improving efficiency.” This concept of “develop once, deploy across multiple platforms” has significantly lowered the barrier to entry for minigame development.
At the Unite 2025 mini-game special session, Unity China’s core development team will deliver nearly 20 technical presentations, delving deeply into the technical essentials of mini-game development from a variety of perspectives, including performance optimization and development tools.For example, the Shiyue team will present a case study on *Eternal Azure Planet* and explain how they used the Unity engine to faithfully reproduce the visual effects of the app version on the minigame platform.
With the rapid development of HarmonyOS, game developers are facing the new challenge of adapting to this platform. Unity China is fully prepared to address this.In the “Unity Engine” special session, technical experts will provide a detailed explanation of the features of the open-source version of HarmonyOS and Unity Engine’s support measures, helping developers quickly enter this new ecosystem full of potential.
This forward-thinking strategy demonstrates Unity China’s deep understanding of the local market. Just as Unity’s early entry into the mobile platform once helped Chinese developers capitalize on the rapid growth of the mobile gaming market, this support for HarmonyOS will also help developers seize the next major platform-level opportunity.
Furthermore, game publishing services are a key component of Unity China’s strategic expansion across the entire industry chain. At the “Publishing Growth Special Session” to be held on October 23, the head of Unity China’s publishing business technology platform will discuss how Unity China provides technical support throughout the entire game lifecycle.From game optimization to rapid platform integration, from data-driven operations to AI-powered commercial value enhancement, and from intelligent compliance management to the integration of ecosystem resources, Unity China has established a comprehensive publishing support system.
This shift from being a mere engine provider to a comprehensive service provider reflects Unity’s deep understanding of the needs of China’s gaming industry.In an increasingly competitive market environment, simply having an excellent product is no longer enough; developers now face the new challenge of how to release their games efficiently, operate them effectively, and achieve sustainable growth. By integrating its technical platform and ecosystem resources, Unity China provides developers with a one-stop solution.
03
Future Outlook: Two Driving Forces—Global Collaboration and Local Insights
From the perspective of an industry observer, the localization efforts undertaken by Unity China and “Tuanjie Engine” are undoubtedly noteworthy. Striking a balance between globalization and localization, and bridging the gap between technological innovation and market needs, are both extremely challenging tasks—yet they also represent an inevitable direction for the industry’s development.
"Unite 2025" is more than just a technology conference; it is also a forum that brings together and showcases Unity China’s strategic direction. As evident from the program lineup, Unity China is firmly pursuing a path of development driven by "two key forces: global collaboration and local insights."
Unity’s strategies in areas such as mini-games, HarmonyOS, and AI point to a clear direction.The upcoming “Unite 2025” conference will serve as a key opportunity to gauge the progress of Unity’s strategy in China. From technical announcements and case studies to ecosystem partnerships and future plans, this information will help industry professionals gain a deeper understanding of Unity’s direction and market positioning.
For Chinese game developers, having more options is always a good thing.The launch of Tuanjie Engine not only provides new technical tools but, more importantly, has opened up a new path for development. At a time when the gaming industry is facing a growth plateau, such innovative initiatives based on local needs may provide the industry with a new engine for growth.
原创文章，作者：游茶妹儿，禁止转载：https://youxichaguan.com/en/archives/194597
