"Press export, and it's in the browser": How Prefrontal Cortex Ships Unity Experiences to the Web

At the Francke Foundations in Halle — a World Cultural Heritage site — visitors point their phones at a QR code and watch historical figures appear in the courtyard around them. No app store, no download. That project is the work of Prefrontal Cortex, a German design agency building interactive, real-time and immersive applications for museums, art festivals, and health-tech clients.

Their philosophy: the technology should disappear, leaving only the user and the story. Which raises the hard question every agency in this space faces — how do you deliver high-end 3D experiences that are instantly accessible on any device, without the friction of app stores and platform-specific builds?

We sat down with co-founder Paul Kirsten and his team to hear how they answer it.

The challenge: high fidelity, zero friction

Prefrontal Cortex’s clients want rich, interactive 3D worlds — available immediately on a phone, a tablet, a desktop browser, or a VR headset.

“A customer comes to us and says, ’Hey, we want a game, and of course, accessible on every platform,’” explains Paul Kirsten, Co-Founder and 3D Artist. “This web approach is really better than downloading an app… if you just walk by, there’s an area with a QR code, and you want to just jump in.”

Instant access points to the web. But traditionally, building for the web meant leaving behind the tools and workflows of a game engine like Unity. The team needed both.

The solution: a bridge from Unity to the browser

“Needle was a bridge to our most-used engine, which is Unity,” says Paul. “The workflow for our team stays the same in many parts. You can animate something, and you can press export and it’s in the browser. That workflow is really interesting for us.”

Four things stand out in how the team works with Needle:

1. One build, every platform
“We are able to build WebXR experiences for cross-platform devices,” says Conceptual Interaction Designer Katja Rempel. “So a user can use it on their desktops, on mobile phones, on VR headsets, in mixed reality, on iOS, and on Android.”

2. Live iteration — one person in the headset, one at the keyboard
“There was one person sitting on one side having the headset on, doing those exercises in VR, and then there was Franzi on the other side working on the computer and adapting,” Paul recalls. “Pressing build and export, and then the update was there in a few seconds… This is something which is crucial for good development for this media.”

3. High-fidelity rendering — including Gaussian splats
Needle isn’t just for simple scenes. Unity Developer Vincent Kreuziger uses Gaussian splatting to bring complex 3D scans to the browser: “We can display very complex objects, including reflections and transparencies, which is usually pretty difficult for scans… we can have fairly complicated objects displayed in a matter of minutes just by adding the relevant components.”

4. 2D and 3D, one codebase
The agency connects web UI and 3D world through modern frameworks. “We use a Svelte framework, and it enables me to send events and functions between 2D and 3D,” says Katja. “So for example, if I interact with a simple button, it also changes the cool 3D world that is interactive.”

Shipped with Needle

• Francke Zeitzeugen — an AR history tour of the Francke Foundations World Heritage site: historical figures and scenes appear on visitors’ own phones and tablets.
• DigiVid 19 — VR breathing therapy that helps patients train their respiratory muscles through calm, gamified exercises.
• Adel & Rebellen — a web companion for exploring the history of Bad Frankenhausen, with an interactive map and AR scenes at the town’s historical sites.
• A Christmas Snow Globe — decorate your own snow globe in VR or AR; a seasonal campaign built on the same stack.
• Mobil ans #werk — an interactive 3D model that lets residents of Burgwedel explore concepts for future “Mobility Points.”

For Prefrontal Cortex, Needle is the technical foundation that lets them focus on what they do best: designing the experience. The Unity workflow they trust, the reach of the web — and nothing for their users to install.

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