Unity 6.3 has arrived, marking another significant update in the Unity 6 version cycle. This release is an LTS (Long Term Support) version and is now the recommended choice for new, long-term projects. It provides two years of support, with an additional year available for Unity Enterprise and Unity Industry users.
One of Unity Technologies' goals for the Unity 6 cycle was to make updates easier. As a result, upgrading to Unity 6.3 from an earlier 6.x version should now be a more seamless process.
The release introduces a range of new features and improvements with a particular focus on 2D, multiplayer, rendering, and workflow enhancements. Below is a brief summary of what is new in this version.
2D
The engine's 2D feature set has been a focus of several improvements. A key addition is the new Sprite Atlas Analyzer tool, which identifies inefficiencies through built-in reports. These reports can display sprite atlas coverage across the project, source texture compression data, the number of atlas pages, wasted space, sprite counts, and other relevant details.
2D animation performance has also improved through multi-threading, cached deformed sprites, optimized single-bone mesh deformation, reduced bone data redundancy, and the removal of unnecessary post-deformation operations with a refactored IK system.
It is now possible to configure the optimal graphics API (DX12 or DX11) and threading mode on a per-device basis through Windows Player settings. This configuration is applied by default to provide a better balance of performance and memory usage, particularly on lower-end PCs.
Another important addition is the ability to render 3D as 2D. 3D renderers can now be displayed with depth or 2D sorting rules while remaining fully compatible with 2D lighting. This supports sorting layers, orders, groups, and sprite masks.
Ray tracing has also been enhanced. It is now possible to ray-trace a large number of objects and materials with a single API call using the RTAS.AddInstancesIndirect<T> functions. Ray tracing parameters can be configured directly on the GPU through compute shaders, which enables GPU culling and other GPU-driven ray tracing techniques.
Multiplayer
This release includes several improvements to multiplayer capabilities, beginning with the addition of HTTP/2 support. UnityWebRequest now defaults to HTTP/2 connections when supported by the server, and this behavior is available on all platforms. The upgrade reduces server-side load, optimizes data transfers, improves security, and enables efficient bi-directional streaming. Early tests on Android show up to a 40 percent reduction in server load for multiple concurrent requests and up to a 15 to 20 percent reduction in on-device CPU usage.
Host migration for Netcode for Entities has also been introduced. It uses Unity Gaming Services to allow a client-hosted session to continue if the host is lost.
Unity Building Blocks have been added to further support multiplayer development. This collection of sample assets provides customizable, production-ready components that serve as solid foundations for game systems such as Achievements, Leaderboards, Multiplayer Sessions, and other common features.
Two Building Blocks templates have also been announced as coming soon: a Multiplayer Third-person Gameplay template and a new Multiplayer FPS template powered by the netcode stack built for Survival Kids, a project developed by Unity in partnership with KONAMI.
Audio
The engine's audio system has also been improved. It is now possible to extend the audio signal chain using Burst-compiled C# units called Scriptable Processors.
Rendering and Graphics
Render Graph utility passes have been expanded to support greater flexibility, faster iteration, and smaller build sizes. A compatibility mode is available behind a compilation flag, and device connectivity has been added to the Render Graph viewer to assist with defragmentation, performance, and long-term unification across rendering pipelines.
Batching for renderers has also been improved. Per-renderer unsigned integer values can now be set and retrieved in shader code through new MeshRenderer and SkinnedMeshRenderer shader user value APIs. This enables Scriptable Render Pipeline (SRP) batching across renderers with dynamic custom values at runtime as an alternative to material property blocks.
New Shader Build Settings have been introduced, offering substantial reductions in shader compilation times. These settings allow developers to configure, exclude, or convert Unity’s shader keywords through the Graphics and Build Profile settings with no coding required.
Post-processing has been optimized for mobile and untethered XR. URP Bloom options are now available for mobile, including Kawase filtering for smaller resolutions and Dual filtering for larger resolutions. Effects such as vignetting, tonemapping, color grading, dithering, and film grain can now run efficiently on untethered XR devices like Meta Quest using a specialized on-tile post-processing renderer feature designed for tile-based GPUs. This provides improved performance and reduced battery consumption.
DX12 on Windows platforms has received significant reductions in graphics memory usage through scratch buffer optimizations and support for the new tight buffer alignment flag.
Workflow
The Unity Editor's Main Toolbar can now be customized, allowing users to move or hide elements as needed. A new search backend has also been introduced to provide more consistent results.
A new template browser provides pre-built options for a wide range of shader types, including lit and unlit surfaces, decals, post-processing, UI, sprites, particles, and 6-way lighting.
The Visual Effects Graph now includes new samples and templates, along with instancing support for GPU events.
The UI Toolkit adds support for customizable UI shaders, post-processing filters, and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).
The Profiler has been improved with a Highlights module that summarizes profiling information in a simple statistical overview. This feature serves as an accessible entry point for new users while also offering quick, preliminary guidance for more experienced users.
Shader Graph has been expanded with new customized lighting content and support for terrain shaders, which enables the creation of terrain materials without coding. Additional updates include support for eight texture coordinates for advanced material workflows across terrains, characters, and effects, as well as improved handling of SubGraphs with nested properties and keywords.
Platforms
Unity 6.3 LTS introduces the Platform Toolkit, a unified API designed to simplify cross-platform development for core game features such as account management, save data, controller ownership, and achievements. These features can be implemented across multiple platforms with a single codebase. The toolkit includes built-in workflows and Editor-based testing tools that reduce the complexity of certification and allow workflows to be tested directly in the Editor without requiring a device build. The Platform Toolkit supports a range of platforms including Windows, Android, iOS, and major gaming consoles.
There is also support for the new Android XR platform, which brings several new features. Face Tracking maps real-time facial expressions to virtual avatars, Object Trackables allow real-world objects to be augmented with virtual content, and Automated Dynamic Resolution helps maintain consistent frame rates to deliver a smoother user experience.
With this release, Unity Technologies stated that performance and stability remain their highest priorities, emphasizing their work with real games to verify reliability for use in production. Insights from these titles are guiding improvements across multiple areas and supporting the development of new features, such as the Sprite Atlas Analyzer tool.
They also highlighted ongoing work on AssetBundles aimed at improving the performance of live games by reducing in-memory footprint through TypeTree deduplication. Additional efforts are focused on Build and Distribution documentation, along with clearer error and warning messages, which are essential for operating live-service titles.
Another addition is Unity Core Standards, a new set of technologies and guidelines that provide verified and signed packages. This system is designed to increase developer confidence, with key creators engaging with Unity to sign their popular Asset Store packages. Clear labeling in both the Asset Store and the Package Manager informs users of a package's verification status.
For more information about this release, be sure to read the official publication on Unity's blog.
