VIVERSE August 2026 Updates
August brought fresh tools for creators, safer community spaces, and a more personal VIVERSE experience for players around the world. From new avatar animation support to a first-ever Hindi language option, here’s everything that shipped this month.
TL;DR
- New naming controls help keep usernames safe and official accounts easy to spot.
- Push notifications can now spotlight featured games (web first, mobile coming later).
- VRM avatars gain richer facial expressions, spring bones, and natural eye tracking.
- VIVERSE SDK v1.2 expands API coverage and trims unnecessary dependencies.
- Hindi is now a supported language across the landing page and Creator Studio.
- New promotion labels like Hot, Top 10, and Exclusive make great content easier to find.
- The Games tab is now called Featured.
- The PlayCanvas Toolkit gets a major upgrade with several rendering fixes.
Community
Name & ID Protection (Blacklist/Whitelist)
VIVERSE added new naming controls to keep the community welcoming and cut down on impersonation. A blacklist blocks names with inappropriate or offensive terms, and a reserved list protects exact matches for official, brand, and VIP names against squatting. For players, this means fewer offensive names and more confidence when spotting official accounts.
Featured Game Push Notifications
Push notifications can now highlight a featured game and link players straight to its VIVERSE content page. This makes it easier to discover new experiences and jump into relevant content fast.
Note: This feature is live on the website first. Mobile app support isn’t available yet and will roll out separately.
Polygon Streaming
VRM Avatar & Animation Support
Polygon Streaming now offers expanded avatar compatibility with VRM conversion and VRMA animation support. This helps creators and developers bring avatars into Polygon Streaming and build more expressive characters.
The update adds direct expression animation, spring bones, and MToon materials for richer facial expressions, dynamic secondary motion, and stylized visuals. Look-at support in the Three.js Web Player and Unity Player lets characters’ eyes follow a target, making interactions feel more natural.
VRM support is now available across Polygon Streaming Console, Create, and VFB conversion pipelines, with updated Console UI and Viewer support.
Learn more in the Unity SDK docs and the Three.js SDK docs.
Platform & Studio
VIVERSE SDK v1.2
VIVERSE SDK v1.2 expands API coverage, including Multiplayer, Lambda, and Avatar APIs. It also removes unnecessary dependencies to simplify integration and maintenance.
Get the latest version in the VIVERSE Unity SDK docs.
Hindi Language Support
VIVERSE now supports Hindi across the landing page, tabs, and Creator Studio. This is part of an ongoing push to make the platform more accessible to creators and players worldwide.
Landing Page Curation & Promotion Labels
The VIVERSE website now offers improved recommendations and curation, plus a new set of promotion labels to help players spot great content at a glance:
- Hot: Trending recommendations
- Select: Editor’s and Staff Picks
- Exclusive: Exclusive to VIVERSE
- New: Released within the last 7 days
- Updated: Last updated within the last 7 days
- Premium: Paid content
- Top: Top 10 regional recommendations
Games Tab Renamed to Featured
The side menu’s Games tab is now called Featured, better reflecting the curated content players find there.
PlayCanvas Toolkit Upgrade
The v4 Toolkit’s playcanvas-vrm package is upgraded from version 2.10.3 to 2.21.4, along with updated MToon rendering compatibility. This release also includes several fixes:
- Fixed custom light uniform array uploads
- Restored directional, spot, and point lights
- Updated MToon shader chunks for PlayCanvas 2.21
- Fixed outline mesh lifecycle and animation synchronization
- Updated outline morphing to use current PlayCanvas APIs
What’s Next
That’s a wrap for August. From safer usernames to Hindi language support and a refreshed PlayCanvas Toolkit, this month’s updates make VIVERSE more welcoming, more expressive, and more accessible for creators and players alike.
Want to build on Polygon Streaming or the VIVERSE SDK? Check out the VIVERSE documentation to get started, or explore the Partner Program to grow your presence on the platform.
Have questions or feedback? Join the conversation in the VIVERSE Creators Discord.
