Real-time 3D engines in virtual worlds: Unity and Unreal milestones (2005–2024)

1. Unity 1.0 debuts as Mac-first 3D engine

   Jun 8, 2005Labels: Unity 1, Mac OS

   • Unity Wiki

2. Epic releases Unreal Engine 4 to public

   Mar 19, 2014Labels: Unreal Engine, Epic Games

   • Epic Blog
   • UE4 Wiki

3. Unreal Engine Marketplace opens for content sharing

   Sep 24, 2014Labels: Unreal Engine, Epic Games

   • Epic Marketplace

4. Unreal Engine 4 becomes free to download

   Mar 3, 2015Labels: Unreal Engine, Epic Games

   • Fortune
   • UE4 Wiki

5. Unity 5 introduces physically based Standard Shader

   Mar 4, 2015Labels: Unity 5, Standard Shader

   • eTeknix

6. Unity begins phasing out Web Player plugin

   Oct 9, 2015Labels: Unity Web, WebGL

   • Phoronix
   • MCV Develop

7. Unity 2017.2 ships with Timeline toolset

   Oct 11, 2017Labels: Unity 2017, Timeline

   • Unity 2017 2
   • Unity 2017 1

8. Unity 2018.1 brings Scriptable Render Pipeline

   May 3, 2018Labels: Scriptable Render, Unity 2018

   • Unity 2018 1
   • Unity Notes

9. Epic reveals Unreal Engine 5 with Nanite and Lumen

   May 13, 2020Labels: Unreal Engine, Nanite

   • Gematsu
   • Unreal Wiki

10. Unreal Engine 5 enters Early Access

    May 26, 2021Labels: Unreal Engine, Early Access

    • Epic Forums

11. Unity completes acquisition of Weta Digital tools

    Dec 1, 2021Labels: Unity, Weta Digital

    • Unity IR
    • Ars

12. Unreal Engine 5.0 releases as production-ready

    Apr 5, 2022Labels: Unreal Engine, Epic Games

    • Epic News

13. Unity’s Entities 1.0 (ECS) reaches pre-release availability

    Jan 1, 2023Labels: Entities 1, ECS

    • Unity Entities
    • Unity DOTS

14. Unity cancels Runtime Fee after industry backlash

    Sep 12, 2024Labels: Unity, Runtime Fee

    • Unity Pricing
    • The Verge

15. Unity 6 launches globally

    Oct 17, 2024Labels: Unity 6, Unity

    • Unity IR