Pocket Worlds’ Highrise gets a Unity update with new development tools | Pocket Gamer.biz

Pocket Worlds’ flagship mobile platform and virtual world Highrise has surpassed 40 million users in time for Highrise 4.0.

The mobile platform’s new Highrise Studio offers a suite of development tools and is designed to simplify the process of creating immersive worlds and games in Unity, whether that’s 3D game modes, environments, assets or avatars. These creations can then be deployed directly into Highrise 4.0, a hub for user-generated content.

The majority of Highrise’s 40 million users and creators are women, with the platform’s user growth accelerating by 16.9% in 2023. Highrise has 680,000 weekly active users and an average playtime of 90 minutes.

Building worlds, building funds

On the creators’ side, a complete rewrite of the Highrise world in Unity aims to empower world-builders to strengthen their monetisation potential, able to earn income through a Creator Exchange programme.

This provides creators with compensation based on engagement time and sales, and saw almost $500,000 distributed to creators last year.

Users can also design their own clothing lines in Highrise and enter competitions, with over 5,000 designers having created unique items in 2023.

“At Pocket Worlds, we are building bleeding-edge technology that enables creators to build the next generation of immersive experiences,” said Pocket Worlds CEO Anton Bernstein.

“Through Highrise, we are connecting the world through shared experiences and realising the positive potential of the internet.

“The fundamental need for human connection is more crucial than ever and our ultimate goal is to empower every individual to experience a sense of belonging and connection through creative, virtual worlds.”

Bitkraft Ventures claimed Pocket World had “perfected the community aspect of gaming” back in 2021, when the firm led the studio’s Series A funding round.