In a bid to secure more titles for Nintendo's Labo VR Kit, Unity Technologies has now announced that it supports the Nintendo peripheral.
This news comes from Famitsu, where it was revealed that developers who want to try their hand with Nintendo’s Labo Kit can now do so using one of the most versatile engines out there: Unity. While the news did not come with any specific announcements on possible titles, it did point interested developers towards the Nintendo Developer Portal.
This news could mean very exciting things to come for the Labo VR Kit. While severely underpowered in comparison to the actual hard-hitters in the marketplace like the Oculus Rift and Quest, HTC Vive, and the upcoming Valve Index, Nintendo’s Labo VR Kit is an amazing entry-level and relatively cheap option to those who want to dip their toes in VR.
For developers looking to make a mark on the console, this works wonders, as Unity is widely considered to be the easiest engine to work with. It’s supported by a huge variety of hardware, and the limits it has only come from how you plan to develop with it. While it has recently garnered the reputation of being the choice engine for ‘asset-flippers’ on Steam, there are many great titles made with Unity, like Cuphead, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Inside, Ori and the Blind Forest, and so much more.
The move to support Unity could also help Nintendo to publish newer titles for its Kit. Recently, Tsubasa Sakiguchi, the Nintendo Labo Director, featured himself in a video where he shows off some of the Labo VR Kit’s potential when it comes to simple game development. The tools are already there, in the built-in Toy-Con Garage VR and the VR Plaza. Using them in conjunction with Unity tools and assets could mean amazing things for the platform moving forward, so it’s not surprising that Unity has supported te hardware, along with Nintendo’s blessing.
In terms of notable third-party titles, there’s only one currently announced: Spice & Wolf VR, which will also release on other VR platforms. This game is notable for being one of the first releases for the Labo VR Kit. As for Nintendo’s own lineup, the company announced Labo VR support for Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild just last month.
