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Unity Version ControlRenamed

Unity’s version control system, formerly Plastic SCM: one repository that programmers can use distributed, with branches and push and pull, while artists check files in straight to the server and lock what they can’t merge.

What it is
Version control
Type
Commercial product
Made by
Unity Technologies
License
Proprietary
Status
Renamed. Called Plastic SCM until Unity rebranded it in 2023; plasticscm.com now points to Unity DevOps.
Facts checked
20 October 2026
Website

What it is

A Unity Version Control (UVCS) server, in Unity’s cloud or on your own machines, holds repositories of changesets, branches and labels. The same repository supports two ways of working. Centralized, a workspace talks directly to the server: you check out only the files you need and check in straight to it, with no local copy of the repository. Distributed, you replicate a repository to your machine and push and pull branches like in Git; a nodata replica copies all the changesets, branches and permissions but none of the file contents, which it downloads on demand. Xlinks split a large project into several repositories, so code can be fully replicated while a big art repository stays central.

It is built around game teams’ binary assets. Gluon is a separate client for people who work on one branch with files that can’t be merged, such as images, animations and documents: they pick just the files they need, lock them, and never deal with branches. Smart Locks make locks follow branches: if you check in a locked file on a task branch, the lock stays “retained” until the change is merged to the destination branch (/main by default), so nobody else starts from an outdated revision. GitSync can push to and pull from any Git server over https:// or git://. Unity says it works with any engine, Unreal included.

Códice Software in Spain released it as Plastic SCM in 2006; Unity bought Códice in August 2020 and rebranded the product in 2023, and it is now part of Unity DevOps alongside Build Automation. Since March 1, 2026, the public cloud service has had no per-seat charges: the first 25 GB of storage per organization each month is free, then $0.14 per GB-month, and 100 GB of egress a month is free, then $0.10 per GB. On-premises and legacy Plastic SCM licences may have different terms. The latest release is 11.0.16.10484 (October 15, 2026).

Why teams pick it

  • Distributed and centralized work in one repository: programmers branch and push, artists check in directly without a local repository
  • Locking designed for binary assets: Gluon for artists, and Smart Locks that track a locked file across branches until it is merged
  • Partial history: nodata replicas and Xlinks avoid downloading every revision of large art repositories
  • No per-seat charges on the public cloud since March 2026, with 25 GB of storage a month free

Watch out for

  • Proprietary and controlled by Unity, and its pricing has changed often: the free cloud tier went from 3 seats and 5 GB in 2020 to unlimited seats and 25 GB in 2026
  • Egress beyond 100 GB a month is billed, which adds up for teams syncing large assets
  • A much smaller ecosystem than Git; GitSync bridges the two, but means running both systems
  • A nodata replica still needs the central server to fetch file contents until they are downloaded

Alternatives

What all version control have in common →Compare side by side →
Apache SubversionOpen sourceThe centralized version control system that replaced CVS: one server holds the history as a single numbered sequence of atomic commits, and clients check out any directory of it.Perforce P4RenamedCommercialA centralized version control server built for huge repositories and big binary files, long the standard in game studios: the server knows who has every file open, can lock files exclusively, and structures branches as streams.

How it fits with other technologies

Work on a task branch with the cm command line · bash

cm workspace create mygame ~/mygame mygame@myorganization@cloud
cd ~/mygame && cm update                      # get the latest files

cm branch create /main/task001 -c="New hero mesh"
cm switch br:/main/task001
cm checkout Assets/Hero.fbx
cm checkin Assets/Hero.fbx -c="New hero mesh"
cm lock list                                  # current locks

cm sync mygame@myorganization@cloud git https://github.com/acme/mygame.git   # exchange changes with Git

See it in a real stack

No architecture uses Unity Version Control yet. Drop it into the playground and wire it up yourself.Open playground →
Where it came from2005–2026

In late 2004 a group of engineers in Spain saw a gap in version control. Large teams used ClearCase and small teams used Subversion. They wanted a system built for feature branches and task branches that a team of 20 or fewer could afford. Pablo Santos co-founded Códice Software in 2005 to build it, and Plastic SCM 1.0 was unveiled in November 2006 at Microsoft’s TechEd Developers event in Barcelona. The core was written in C#, for productivity, with Mono running clients and servers on Mac and Linux.

Plastic was fully distributed but could also work centrally, with clients connected straight to a server, so both styles could coexist in one team. In 2013 GitSync let it push to and pull from Git servers such as GitHub directly over Git’s own protocols. Version 6.0 in 2017 introduced Jet, its own repository storage, alongside the SQL databases it had used before.

On August 17, 2020, Unity announced it had acquired Códice. It positioned Plastic for larger teams that needed branching, locking and merging, promised continued support for people who didn’t use the Unity engine, and added a free tier for up to three users. In 2023 Unity rebranded Plastic SCM as Unity Version Control, part of Unity DevOps, and in March 2026 it dropped per-seat charges for the cloud service.

Why it’s built this way

Branch per task from the start
When many considered branches harmful, Plastic’s founders made creating branches fast and cheap so any team could give every task its own branch, at a time when many version control developers considered branches harmful.
Distributed and centralized in one product
Enterprises worried about every developer holding a full clone. Plastic let each user choose: replicate and push and pull, keep only partial replicas, or skip the local repository and check in straight to the server.
Write it in C# on .NET
Santos chose C# for productivity, simpler code and ease of learning, and relied on Mono to run the same clients and servers on Mac and Linux.
A separate workflow for artists
Artists work on a single branch with files that can’t be merged and don’t want to download a huge repository for one or two files. Gluon lets them select just those files and lock them, and leaves branching and merging to others.

Timeline

  1. 2005

    Pablo Santos co-founds Códice Software to build Plastic SCM

  2. 2006

    Plastic SCM 1.0 unveiled at TechEd Developers in Barcelona (November)

  3. 2013

    GitSync: push and pull directly with Git servers (March)

  4. 2017

    6.0 introduces Jet storage (Labs build in January, official June 15)

  5. 2020

    Unity acquires Códice Software (August 17)

  6. 2023

    Plastic SCM rebranded as Unity Version Control (February)

  7. 2026

    No per-seat charges for cloud repositories from March 1; 11.0.16.10484 on October 15

Sources18 · facts checked 20 October 2026

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