Console Porting with Unity

Getting a Unity game running on PS5 or Xbox requires more than changing the build target. Certification requirements, platform-specific optimizations, and console-specific features all need attention. We handle the technical work that gets your game approved.

What Console Porting Involves

Unity supports console platforms, but support and readiness are different things. A PC game that builds for PS5 is not a PS5 game. It's a PC game running on console hardware, which usually means poor performance, missing features, and certain certification failure.

Platform SDK Integration

Each console has its own SDK, account systems, achievement implementations, and platform features. PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Nintendo Online have different requirements for how you handle user accounts, saves, and online features.

Input and UI

Console players expect controller-first experiences. Menu navigation, button prompts, and input handling need to work naturally with gamepads. If your game was designed for mouse and keyboard, the UI often needs rethinking.

Performance Optimization

Console hardware is fixed. You can't tell players to upgrade their GPU. The game needs to hit performance targets on that exact hardware. This often requires significant optimization work, especially for games that relied on high-end PC specs.

Certification Compliance

Sony and Microsoft have extensive technical requirements. How your game handles suspend/resume, network disconnection, user switching, parental controls, and dozens of other scenarios must meet their specifications. Failing certification means delays.

Our Console Experience

TOGETHER: OR WE DIE is targeting Steam. We also build with console constraints in mind - memory budgets, fixed performance targets, and platform feature integration are part of our development process.

We can port existing PC games to consoles, or develop new projects with multi-platform release in mind. Building for console from the start is significantly cheaper than retrofitting later.

Timeline and Process

A console port typically takes 2-4 months depending on the source game's state. Well-optimized PC games with good architecture can be faster. Games with PC-specific assumptions baked in take longer.

The first phase is technical assessment: understanding what needs to change. Then platform integration: SDK setup, account systems, platform features. Then optimization to meet performance targets. Finally, certification testing and submission.

Plan for certification to take 1-2 months. First submissions often get rejected with a list of issues to fix. We handle the back-and-forth with platform holders until approval.

Before You Start

Console development requires approved developer status with Sony and/or Microsoft. If you don't have this, getting approved takes time and isn't guaranteed. We can advise on the application process, but approval is between you and the platform holder.

You'll also need development kits, which have limited availability and require approved developer status to purchase. Budget for hardware as well as development work.