Google launches Playground to turn prompts into games, with Unity on board

Google has launched Playground, an experimental platform that turns text prompts into playable games. It is teaming up with Unity to add more advanced tools, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday.

Google Playground opens today to users in the US aged 18 and over. People describe a game, test it right away and change the physics, rules, characters or setting by asking, with no coding required, according to Google.

Roblox shares fell as much as 8% in pre-market trading after the announcement, Investing.com reported. Unity’s shares slipped 1.6%, and Alphabet’s rose 0.35%.

What powers it

Playground runs on Gemini, Nano Banana and Lyria, Google’s existing models for text, images and music, Google spokesperson Nia Carter told The Verge. Google pairs them with custom software it tuned on games it built itself, she said.

The tool is free. Google One subscribers can use more tokens each week, depending on their plan, Carter told The Verge.

Sharing and play

Playground runs in the browser, so people can play on phones and laptops. Creators can keep a game private, share it by link or publish it to the Playground Explore gallery. The gallery ranks games by player ratings and play activity.

Select genres support leaderboards and multiplayer. Players use a Google Play Games profile to claim a handle and follow creators. Google says every published game goes through safety screening, and users can report games.

Google has kept other AI features for Americans only before.

Unity Spark comes later

Unity Spark will add professional-level mechanics, high-fidelity 3D graphics and the Unity runtime, the engine that runs Unity games, the companies said in a joint release. It is in testing, with a closed beta coming soon, according to Google. It will also give access to Unity Asset Store assets, GamesBeat reported.

“Unity Spark is about being able to create real, unique interactive experiences,” Unity chief executive Matt Bromberg told GamesBeat.

The companies gave no financial terms for the partnership.

Roblox under pressure

Roblox lets players build and share their own games. Jefferies downgraded the stock to underperform on 28 September, Investing.com reported.

“[The stock’s] 30% rally since second-quarter results reflects overly optimistic expectations for bookings over the next 12 months,” Jefferies analyst James Heaney wrote, according to Investing.com.

In software, Swedish app builder Lovable turns prompts into apps. It says employees at nearly two thirds of the Fortune 500 use it.

Playground’s games plug into Google Play Games. A UK claim separately accuses Google of overcharging UK consumers over Play Store fees.