Google Play Games Launches Built-in Platform With AI

A revamped model of Google‘s app store Google Play launched Tuesday with features including an integrated gaming platform that will soon incorporate AI assistance, a new curated content “You” tab, and cross-device gameplay amid the tech giant’s Google Play Games on PC providing strikes out of the testing part.

Google’s newly built-in gaming platform will rollout a “Play Games Sidekick” function within the coming months, which is described as a “helpful in-game overlay available while playing games downloaded from Play.” The instrument “curates and organizes relevant gaming info” and presents “direct access” to Google’s AI service, Gemini Live, for “real-time guidance, so you can stay in the game.”

“Last December, Google DeepMind demonstrated how Google is developing AI agents across multiple domains, including gaming,” Google Play Games boss Aurash Mahbod stated in a blog post announcing the updates Tuesday. “Since then, Google DeepMind and Google Play have continued to collaborate to make Sidekick more helpful for gamers. With Sidekick, you’ll be able to ask for real-time conversational help from Gemini, instead of leaving the game to seek out tutorials or walkthroughs. Sidekick uses Gemini Live’s screen sharing capabilities to understand your game context and deliver AI-powered, in-game guidance with verbal tips, tricks and support during gameplay.”

Additionally, Google is launching a “Level Up” advantages program for Google Play Games recreation builders which is able to provide a “suite of benefits to accelerate business growth,” together with “a new space to engage with players, access to content tools in Play Console, and enhanced discovery opportunities through editorial surfaces on the Play Store.”

These updates to Google Play options come at a time of heightened criticism of cell app shops among the many gaming group with accusations of anti-competitive insurance policies on charges and in-app purchases.