Google reveals Playground, its AI-powered game-making platform

Playground is Google’s new browser-based game creation platform that invites players to create and edit games with a series of prompts then share them with friends.

The AI-powered tool is live today for players aged 18 and over in the US at playground.google. Google did not provide detail on launches outside the US, but did state that access will roll out soon for those signed up to Google One, its web service and AI subscription package.

Google Playground will also be integrated with Unity Spark for pro-level functionality. Google said the collab enables advances mechanics, 3D capabilities and “the flexibility of the Unity runtime.”

Unity Spark is in testing, with a closed beta coming soon, said Google, which hosts several demos showing what Unity and Playground can do on the Playground site.

Playground users will be able to start a new game project from scratch or remix starter prompts. The browser-based games can then be shared among friends or be published to the Playground Explore community gallery so others can play. Leaderboards and multiplayer is also supported for certain genres.

Players can rate other users’ Playground games, and Google’s algorithms will surface games it feels are “fresh, creative, and fun”. All games go through a safety screening process and can be reported if they are considered to be breaking Google’s community rules.

Playground is described by Google as “an experimental gaming platform” that follows on from the Project Genie demos it released back in January.

The technology allows users to create lightly interactive game worlds with just a prompt, and its unveiling sent shares of several major gaming stocks tumbling, including Roblox, Unity and Take-Two.

Facebook owner Meta recently announced a similar set of tools under its Horizon brand. Its Horizon Create app will allow players to create games with a prompt and publish them across Facebook and Instagram, but there’s no set launch date for the app just yet.

Google-owned YouTube has also been making moves in games recently; it expanded its YouTube Playables range of simple webgames to over 50 markets.