The past decade has seen a significant shift in how we engage with games, thanks to online connectivity. Unlike traditional games that are bought and completed once, live online games offer fresh content, innovative features, and thriving communities, providing players with a constant reason to return.

Now, generative AI (gen AI) is taking the gaming experience to new heights with the concept of “living games” – games that adapt, grow, and evolve on their own. Imagine a game that can learn your playing style and adjust the environment, characters, and storylines to fit your unique preferences and skill level. Envision building entire worlds, creating the perfect mods or custom game items simply by describing them, or having conversations with virtual characters that feel as natural as interacting with another human player. These are the kinds of experiences that gen AI makes possible.

Gen AI is Revolutionizing Game Development and Play

To remain relevant and exciting, games must continuously evolve to engage existing players and attract new ones. Game developers rely on player data to inform their decisions about updates and features. While AI has assisted game makers in automating data analysis and identifying trends, lengthy development cycles and manual processes have historically resulted in game updates lagging behind player requests and shifts in behavior.

Leaders in game development are now leveraging gen AI throughout their production process to create new content faster – from initial ideas to concept art, dialogue, and more. This is crucial as development costs continue to rise, and AI enables studio staff to focus on the most creative and challenging aspects of development.

With gen AI, developers can move away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach and create adventures tailored to each player. Instead of the same set of events and stories for everyone, games can now generate new content in real-time while players are engaged.

These advancements empower game developers, technology partners, players, and the game itself to actively participate in and drive ongoing improvements.

Google Cloud: Empowering the Future of Gaming

Google Cloud is providing game developers with the tools and technology to build living games. We offer developers the same services and infrastructure that power products like Google Search and YouTube, alongside advanced AI like Google’s Gemini models and the developer platform Vertex AI. Beyond our expertise and technology, our partner ecosystem connects game developers with game development tools, engines, and platforms from across the industry.

Here’s how we’re already helping make living games a reality:

• Capcom, the creators of hit franchises like Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, and Resident Evil, is utilizing Vertex AI and Gemini to generate hundreds of thousands of ideas for game development. Google Cloud AI enables Capcom to rapidly generate and iterate on ideas for creating items and environments, reducing costs and speeding up game development. Google Cloud’s AI solutions facilitate faster processing, high-quality image generation, and efficient management of large datasets, allowing Capcom to quickly iterate and improve game content.
• Klang Games, the studio behind the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game SEED, uses Google Cloud to bring its evolving virtual world to life. With Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Vertex AI, and Gemini models, Klang will enable hundreds of thousands of autonomous virtual humans, known as Seedlings, to exhibit unique personalities, form relationships, and shape emergent societies through natural conversations and persistent interactions.
• Series Entertainment, a fast-growing startup dedicated to making great games with the power of AI, is using Google Cloud’s AI to build games much faster, reducing development time by 90%. This speed enables artists to quickly make changes based on player feedback, keeping the game world fresh and engaging.
• ElevenLabs, an AI audio research and deployment company, uses Google Cloud’s scalable AI infrastructure to help game developers create realistic character voices, translate dialogue quickly, and generate unique sound effects. This partnership enables studios to make games more immersive and easier to create by leveraging AI for voice and sound needs.
• nunu.AI, a startup focused on revolutionizing Quality Assurance (QA) with AI, is using Google’s Gemini models to create one of the first multi-modal AI agents that automatically test a game throughout the development pipeline, providing continuous quality assurance at every stage. By automating repetitive testing tasks, nunu.ai ensures developers can focus on creating exceptional gaming experiences for players.
• Common Sense Machines (CSM.ai) builds 3D generative AI models and agents to help game artists create immersive game worlds. Working with Cosmic Lounge, CSM can automatically create game-ready 3D assets from simple text descriptions and images, reducing the time it takes artists to create new content.

We’re proud to play a key role in shaping the future of the games industry alongside our customers. To take your player experiences to the next level, visit Google Cloud for Games and learn more.