Unity have just announced a new AR (augmented reality) focused extension, Unity Mars. This also marks the first time that Unity have charged an additional subscription ($50/month or $600 a year) for additional Unity functionality. Project Mars is described on the Unity blog as:
Unity MARS is the world’s first authoring solution that brings real-world environment and sensor data into the creative workflow. That means you can quickly build mixed and augmented reality experiences that are context-aware and responsive to physical space. And they will work in any location with any type of data.
From the beginning, we designed Unity MARS to solve the most common pain points across the entire AR development cycle: defining variables, testing scenarios, and delivering AR experiences that intelligently interact with the real world.
More details about MARS are available here and you can sign up for a 45 day free trial here. Some common questions regarding the new licesning are detailed in the FAQ and are sure to make existing Pro subscribers unhappy:
Which Unity plans offer Unity MARS?
Every Unity plan supports Unity MARS. However, regardless of your plan, access to Unity MARS is by paid subscription.
How much does a Unity MARS license cost?
Unity MARS includes a free trial period of 45 days, after which access to Unity MARS is by annual subscription, billed at either $50/month or $600/year.
You can learn more about MARS in the video below.