Unity has decided to take charge of your next project, with the acquisition of Plastic SCM, the popular version control software (VCS) from Codice Software. Though that brings up a host of immediate questions for both Plastic SCM and Unity’s own Collaborate too.
Unity explained in a blog post that it will continue to support Collaborate, with it targeting small teams who want “an easy way to sync their projects without navigating the complexity of version control.”
Meanwhile Plastic SCM was brought into Unity “for larger teams looking to cooperate on more complex projects and need VCS features like branching, locking, merging and a standalone GUI. With Plastic, you now have access to the market-leading solution.”
Unity also moved to reassure non-Unity users of the software, saying that they will still see the product evolving, whatever their use case for it.
“We also believe that it’s important for creators to have the flexibility to pick the tools that fit their development needs and team when using Unity. That is why we are committed to making sure that Plastic, Collaborate and other third party version control services continue to receive support so you can use the best tool to fit your needs.”
Unity will be introducing a new free tier for Plastic SCM users, whether they use Unity or not, though that’s limited to only three users. There is also a migration tool for Collaborate users who want to use the broader feature of Plastic.
It will be interesting to see how Unity’s involvement potentially changes the tool and possibly strengthens it in its ongoing competition with Perforce.