Google Labs opens Playground, a chat-driven browser game maker

Google Labs today introduced Playground, what 9to5Google describes as an "experimental gaming platform" that lets people "create, play, and share" browser games by typing prompts into a chat.

Under the hood sits a stack of Google's own models. The platform runs on "Gemini, Nano Banana, and Lyria models with a 'custom harness to make game creation more accessible,'" according to the write-up, with users picking 2D or 3D and single or multiplayer. Once a game exists, creators can "tweak the physics, rewrite the rules, customize the characters, or overhaul the environment."

Finished titles can be kept private, shared via link, or published to a Playground Explore gallery, where submissions go through "safety (community guideline) screening along with user reporting." Games are playable on phones or laptops and tie into Play Games profile leaderboards.

Google also previewed a Unity Spark integration. In Google's framing, "the accessibility of Playground and world-class game-building expertise of Unity provides the building blocks for an ecosystem where users can start with a simple text prompt and eventually grow into building immersive experiences with Unity."

The rollout starts in the US. Free users can generate games, with "expanded access tied to Google One membership." The post does not detail what that expanded tier actually unlocks. Playground lands amid a steady run of Google AI product launches this week, including Xreal's Gemini-powered Aura glasses preorders.