Announced on | Rollout on |
February 21, 2024 | February 21, 2024 |
We are thrilled to announce that after an Early Access Program, the new Zendesk SDK for Unity with messaging is now available for everyone. This marks an exciting step forward from our original Unity SDK release in 2020, as we are now offering our gaming customers enhanced features to integrate Zendesk seamlessly into their games.
The new Zendesk SDK for Unity is available to any Zendesk customer with an active Support subscription and messaging enabled. Some features may be restricted to certain plans.
Unity versions supported:
- 2020LTS
- 2021LTS
- 2022LTS
What is changing?
The new Zendesk SDK for Unity takes the simplicity of the legacy SDK (now called the Classic SDK) and adds messaging capabilities to it. The new SDK is designed to be simple and convenient for you, your players, your developers, and your agents:
- With our bot builder tool, you can build automated conversation bots in minutes to control how your players are served, using ready-to-use elements like quick replies and forms.
- Your players can have continuous conversations with agents. They can start, pause, and pick up their support conversations.
- Your development team can still install the SDK in minutes, as it is native to Unity and has no compatibility overhead.
- Your agents have access to each customer's context and previous bot interactions so they can offer assistance immediately. Additionally, the conversation bot protects your agents' time, which can now handle trivial tasks and deflect many support requests.
What is the difference between EAP and GA versions of the SDK?
For those who participated in EAP, there are some important additions:
- Unity as a channel – you can configure Unity as a channel from the Admin Center. See Working with messaging for your mobile channel for information.
- User authentication with JWT
- Carousel message type is available.
Why is Zendesk making this change?
Back in 2020, we built the first native customer service SDK for Unity, which allowed game developers to integrate Zendesk into their games quickly and confidently. Since then, Zendesk has evolved as a messaging and conversational platform, and the Unity SDK is naturally following this path to bring all messaging capabilities into gaming.
Customers have asked for similar smart bots to deflect gamers' basic support requests and help free their agents to assist the most important gamers (paying gamers). So, in 2022, we launched an EAP for messaging in Unity. Today, it's finally GA'ing. From now on, Unity customers can access all messaging capabilities.
What do I need to do?
To use the new Zendesk SDK for Unity, you'll need to install it on your app.
If you've never had the SDK:
- Admins: Follow the procedures in this guide to set up Unity as a channel. Once you get your channel ID, share it with the developer.
- Developers: Use the developer documentation to set up the SDK using the channel ID provided by the admins.
If you were participating in the EAP:
For those who have joined us during the EAP, upgrading to the GA version is straightforward:
- Remove the EAP SDK from your Unity project as you would for a regular update.
- Follow the developer documentation to integrate the new GA version.
If you're upgrading from Classic SDK to Zendesk SDK with messaging:
If you use our classic SDK, you must remove it completely from your Unity project and install the new package; everything you need is included in the Getting Started guide.
Need help or have questions?
We stand by to support you in this transition. If you have questions or need assistance, contact Zendesk Customer Support. If you have product feedback or feature requests related to this announcement, visit our community forum, where we collect and manage customer product feedback.
Thank you for being a valued member of the Zendesk community. We can't wait to see your enhanced player support experiences with the new Zendesk SDK for Unity.