Source Control for Games
Git LFS, Diversion, Unity VCS / Plastic, Perforce / Helix Core.
Source control for games is its own subgenre — gigabytes of binary art, multi-GB engine projects, animators working in DCC tools, partial-file locking on .uasset. Generic Git breaks under the load; the field has its own tools. Pairs with build / CI-CD for shipping. For broader CI / git see CI / CD. For full landscape see Game Development.
The 2024–26 shake-up: Unity acquired Plastic SCM (now Unity Version Control / VCS) and pivoted hard at Unity. Diversion appeared and is rapidly displacing Plastic for indies. Perforce / Helix Core remains AAA standard. Git LFS is fine for solo / small teams who already know Git.
The four real options
- ★ Git + Git LFS — free, ubiquitous, fine for solo or small teams. Git LFS stores large binaries by reference; works on GitHub/GitLab/Codeberg, but storage and bandwidth are billed.
.gitattributes+ LFS tracking is the trick. Branching huge binary projects gets painful at scale; locking via Git LFS file locking is cumbersome. - ★ Diversion — free up to a generous tier (~150GB free), paid above. Cloud-native, Git-shaped CLI but handles huge repos. Auto-handles binaries. Aimed squarely at Unity / Unreal indies who outgrow Git LFS. Rapidly growing in 2024–26.
- ★ Unity Version Control / VCS (formerly Plastic SCM) — free per-seat under low caps, paid above. Native Plastic plus Unity-flavored client. Excellent partial-checkout, file locking, branch experience. Quality is real; trust eroded after the Unity runtime-fee saga.
- ★ Perforce Helix Core — free up to 5 users + 20 workspaces, paid above. The AAA studio standard for 25+ years. Centralized, stream-based, strong partial-checkouts. Hosting yourself is involved; Assembla and Helix DAM are paid hosted options.
Mid-tier / hybrid
- Anchorpoint — free + paid, art-team-friendly Git/Perforce front-end. Great if your team is artists who hate the CLI.
- Plastic SCM (legacy / non-Unity branding) — being absorbed into Unity VCS; if you're not on Unity, the licensing path is awkward.
- PlasticX / Cloud Edition — Unity rebrand variants.
- Subversion (SVN) — historically used; falling out of favor but still seen in some studios.
Hosting
- GitHub — Git LFS billed, free tier ~1GB LFS.
- GitLab — Git LFS, self-host option, more generous free tier.
- Codeberg / sourcehut / Forgejo — free OSS-friendly Git hosting; LFS support varies.
- Unity Cloud / Unity DevOps — Unity VCS hosting, free seats under cap.
- Diversion Cloud — built-in.
- Perforce Helix Core — self-host or Assembla / Helix Hosted (paid).
- Assembla — paid, Perforce + SVN + Git hosted.
Big-binary asset DAM (separate from VCS)
- Helix DAM — paid, Perforce-tied digital asset management.
- Diversion also handles assets in-repo.
- Itch.io drafts, Google Drive, Dropbox — what indies actually use, despite better options existing.
Branching / merge strategies for games
- Use Trunk-based + short feature branches; long-lived branches in big-binary repos become merge nightmares.
- Lock binaries before editing (
git lfs lock, Plastic Lock, Perforce checkout). - Sub-projects — keep huge raw assets out of the main repo (e.g., source PSDs in a separate Diversion repo, exported PNGs in main).
Pricing summary
- Free: Git + small LFS (within host quota), Diversion (free tier), Helix Core (5 users), Plastic / Unity VCS (3 seats free).
- Paid: all the above above their free tiers.
Pick this if…
- Solo or 2–3 person team, technical: Git + Git LFS.
- Indie team, art-heavy, want to leave Git LFS: Diversion.
- Already on Unity with Plastic / Unity VCS: stay; it works.
- AAA / studio hiring: Perforce Helix Core.
- Artist-friendly UI on top: Anchorpoint (over Git or Perforce).