The final instalment of Unity 5 is set to launch on March 31st 2017 with a beta for Unity 2017 coming sometime in April.

The Unity 5.6 update will add native support for Vulkan graphics API for improved performance on Android devices.

Progressive Lightmapping, a Navigation Mesh, and a new Video Player will also be available.

Unity 5.6 will be the last version of the current numbered system before the platform switches to a year-based numbering system. This is to better reflect the company's commitment to regular updates.

Great progress

"The Unity 5 cycle culminating in 5.6 represents great progress in our key focus areas: graphics, performance, stability, efficiency and platform growth.

"I'm really proud of what our engineering teams delivered," said John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity Technologies.

"Features like Physically Based Rendering, Global Illumination, and Codeless IAP are just a few of the advancements that have helped make Unity 5, and the community it powers, so successful."

As well as the new updates, Unity revealed that the much-touted partnership with Xiaomi to get Android games into the China market has now started.

Developers can find out more on a new Xiaomi-Unity Developer Portal.