Unity is bringing transparency to mobile gaming for brand advertisers, extending Unity Core Standards to advertising

Jun 17, 2026|3 Min
Black background with copy "Introducing Unity Core Standards for advertisers"

It’s a startling statistic: Time spent in games now rivals time spent on social platforms and CTV, yet EMARKETER projects that gaming will capture only around 2.3% of digital ad spend in 2026.

Why the disconnect? Because premium gaming inventory has historically been lumped in with the rest of the "in-app" world. When advertisers can’t distinguish a high-fidelity, handcrafted game from a low-quality ad farm, they discount the whole category.

Today, Unity is extending Unity Core Standards—our initiative for bringing more transparency to the gaming ecosystem—to advertising. With over 70% of the top 1,000 mobile games built on our engine,¹ reaching over 3 billion unique monthly active devices,² we have the responsibility to ensure the ecosystem works for everyone. By surfacing signals from the engine layer about how ads render and behave within real gameplay environments, Unity aims to help advertisers better understand the quality of the inventory they are buying and give developers a clearer way to demonstrate the value of their games.

Index stands behind Unity Core Standards because they will serve to push the ecosystem toward what marketers, developers, and consumers all need: more trust, more transparency, better security, and better ad experiences. Raising the bar is not optional anymore - it is how mobile gaming becomes a truly premium channel.
ANDREW CASALE / INDEX EXCHANGEPresident & CEO

The Opportunity for Brand Advertisers, Agencies and Programmatic Partners

Brand advertisers, agencies, and programmatic partners are looking at a highly engaged audience reaching 256M unique monthly active devices with Made with Unity games in the US³ alone—yet hesitating to move their budgets because they can’t always see or trust the quality of the gaming inventory they're buying into.

The gap between time spent in games and ad dollars flowing into games is not an audience problem, it's a trust and infrastructure problem. Dentsu is proud to help shape the standards that close that gap, because when gaming advertising works better, it works better for game makers, for players, and for our clients.
BRENT KONING / DENTSUGlobal Head of Gaming

By extending Unity Core Standards to advertising, we are moving transparency upstream. Rather than relying primarily on downstream verification or self-attested quality signals, advertisers can soon gain visibility into how advertising is actually presented within gameplay — including how ads render, where they appear, and how they interact with the player experience. These signals provide transparency to advertisers for brand alignment while agencies and programmatic partners may integrate these signals into existing ad verification and brand safety frameworks they already use.

As mobile gaming continues to grow into a critical channel for advertisers, the industry needs more openness and trusted signals around how advertising is delivered and experienced within apps. Too often, black-box environments can limit advertiser visibility and challenge perceptions of control. Unity’s initiative is an important step toward helping advertisers better understand the quality of the inventory they’re buying, protect brand equity and invest with greater confidence in premium gaming environments.
MARK ZAGORSKI / DOUBLEVERIFYCEO

Developers at the Core of Unity Core Standards

Unity Core Standards was created to bring transparency to the Unity ecosystem, so developers can make informed actions and trust what goes into their games. This includes the installed ad packages that deliver the user ad experience within games that both developers and advertisers care about.

For developers, their game is their reputation. They also shouldn't have to choose between monetization and player retention. By defining clearer expectations around the in‑game ad experience, Unity Core Standards help establish a more defensible definition of premium gaming inventory — one based not only on performance and price, but on observable experience quality and creative integrity. This helps developers signal the value of their environments while protecting the player experience that makes their games successful.

At Jam City, we believe players shouldn't have to choose between a great game and a great ad experience, which is why we focus on making advertising as seamless and frictionless as possible. At the same time, as clients, we have a right to see how our inventory is being used and provide the transparency that brand advertisers need. Unity's Core Standards initiative helps us protect player sentiment while proving to advertisers that their brands are reaching a highly engaged, quality audience of millions.
KIEL LEBARON / JAM CITYSr. Director, Ad Monetization

The Path Forward: Collaboration with Industry Leaders

Unity is committed to developing this work openly and in collaboration with the partners who will use it. A growing group of industry leaders has aligned with Unity on the need for stronger standards in gaming advertising and is helping shape and realize this vision. Unity is proud to be working alongside Butler/Till, CloudX, Dentsu, DoubleVerify, Index Exchange, Jam City, Liftoff, Magnite, Mobian, Nexxen, PMG, The Trade Desk, and Verve with conversations underway with additional partners across the ecosystem.

The goal is simple: a gaming ecosystem where developers are fairly rewarded for their craft, advertisers can invest with confidence, and players can enjoy the games they love without compromise. We will share more on the direction and shape of this effort over the coming months, as we continue working with developers, brands, agencies and programmatic partners.

Learn more about Unity Core Standards and Unity's commitment to a more trusted, transparent gaming ecosystem.

Unity Core Standards: The foundation for a trusted, transparent gaming ecosystem
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1 Source: Apptopia, Data.ai, and SensorTower. Disclaimer: Top mobile games is a blended number defined by the top 1000 mobile games based on monthly active users from each of the Google Play Store and iOS App Store for the month of December 2025. This figure is calculated globally, excluding China.

2 Source: Unity Ads, Apptopia, Steam. Disclaimer: This estimate is based on a combination of Apptopia and Steam data from Dec 1 2025, and unique identifiers from internally available Unity data for mobile and desktop devices only.

3 Source: Apptopia, UAds. Disclaimer: This estimate is based on Apptopia data from December 2025, and unique device and installation level identifiers from internally available data (mobile and desktop devices only).