UPDATE: The Zendesk SDK for Unity (Messaging) EAP Now supports passing custom fields and tags (Conversation Metadata), more information here

Back in 2020, we launched our first Native Unity SDK. That SDK was designed to give you, our gaming customers, a quick and easy way to bring the power of Zendesk seamlessly in your games.

Since then, Zendesk has announced Messaging, our newest product that is helping our customers to deliver rich conversational experiences which are connected across web, mobile or social apps. 

Zendesk's messaging provides customers with the unique flexibility to pop in and out of the conversation at their leisure, while giving your support teams the tools to automate answers to get back to customers faster (using Answer Bot with Flow Builder), and easily manage all conversations from a unified workspace.

Today we are excited to announce that we will be releasing a new version of the Unity SDK with messaging capabilities included, and we are inviting you all to sign up for our early access program to be our partner to bring this product to market.

What is new in the Zendesk SDK for Unity?

The new Zendesk SDK for Unity brings the simplicity of the previous SDK (we call it the classic SDK now) and adds the messaging capabilities on top of it. 

The new SDK is designed to be simple and convenient for everyone, for you, your players, your developers and your agents, here is how:

With our Flow Builder Editor, you can build automated flows in minutes and control how your players are being served using bots, and ready-to-use blocks like quick replies and forms.

Your players, on the other hand, are having a continuous conversation with agents. They can start, pause, and pick up their support conversations at their leisure.

Your development team can still install the SDK in minutes as it is native to Unity, so there is no compatibility overhead, and your agents have access to customer’s context and previous bot interactions so they can jump straight to helping them plus their time is protected as Answer bot can now handle trivial tasks.

What’s the Zendesk SDK for Unity EAP (Early Access Program)?

In the last year, we have been full speed towards building this SDK, and now it will be available for you to give it a go through our Early Access Program (EAP).

Once you sign up, we will share the UnityPackage with you with a quick start guide and documentation. Later we will touch base with you to get your feedback.

Is this available to all Zendesk customers?

Yes, this Early Access Program is available to any Zendesk customer with an active subscription. Nonetheless, below are some things that each customer should consider before requesting to join the EAP.

This is not an upgrade of the old SDK

The new Zendesk SDK for Unity is using new capabilities from Zendesk. You will need to completely remove the old SDK from your Unity project and install the new one. Follow the steps here.

Some features won't be available

The Early Access Program, as the name indicates, is an early release of the SDK. Some features that are available in the existing Zendesk SDKs are not available in the initial release of the new Unity SDK EAP.

The following features are not available in the initial release of the Unity SDK EAP:

• Push notifications
• End-user authentication 
• Typing indicators
• Right To Left Languages.
• Rich text messages

Over the coming months, we’ll be working to deliver missing features. We’ll be releasing incremental updates throughout the EAP, meaning you’ll get these features gradually.

You're expected to work closely with us during the EAP

Here are a few things we ask of customers participating in the Early Access Program:

• Report any bugs and expedite the release of new versions containing fixes.
• Give us ongoing feedback on the accuracy of the provided documentation.
• Be open to working very closely with us. Your engineers and product team will need to work with us during the EAP to ensure the success of your implementation. 
• Be prepared to provide us with quick feedback and have your engineers and product teams committed to the success of this implementation. 
• When you achieve success, be a case study and talk about how the Unity SDK delivers value to you and your customers.

This is EAP software - can I trust releasing it into my production apps?

Despite the fact that this is an Early Access Program, legally under Zendesk EAP Software Agreement, we take the quality of our SDKs EAPs with the utmost seriousness. Every component of our code is fully tested and vetted through the same process used for our General Availability production software. Although there's no way of guaranteeing that you won't face issues (as it happens with any type of software), we're very confident about the quality of this SDKs EAP release.

From this perspective, the main objective of this Early Access Program is not to validate the quality of the software, but to validate the integration steps, documentation, and the features we’re releasing.

Note that as early access software, not all features are complete yet. See “Some features won't be fully available" above.

Once the EAP ends, any channel configuration will need to be replaced with a new Unity channel configuration in the Admin Center. This means that you will need to update your implementation of the SDK and release new versions of your apps. We will support you through out this process.

Ready to take part?

All you have to do is fill in some information and you're ready to go! We’ll review all responses and then select eligible partners for the first phase of this EAP.

You will need to enable messaging if you want to use this SDK, more information here. 

Join the Early Access Program

What happens after I register?

The Zendesk SDK for Unity EAP will be rolled out in stages. Zendesk will select the customers to include in the EAP following internal criteria. This means that some customers might take a little longer to get access to the EAP. Don't worry! The program is designed to give you an awesome experience during the early access stage.

As soon as a customer is selected, we’ll partner closely with its team to understand their experiences with integrating the Zendesk SDK for Unity into your mobile application. Zendesk will also provide support for you at this early stage, with direct access to the team that's developing the SDK.