Whether anyone wants it or not, user-generated content is set to evolve to a new level in 2026 thanks to AI, and that includes video games. We already have the prospect of game-like features and AI-generated fan art coming to Disney+ through Disney's deals with OpenAI and Fortnite developer Epic Games.
Now Google's YouTube launched a closed Beta test for a prototype web app where users can generate their own games using short text, video or image prompts. There are already six AI-generated games available to play in YouTube – but don't expect to find the next Clair Obscur Expedition 33 (see our picks of the best game development software and best laptops for game development if your ambitions are higher).
The YouTube Playables Builder is based on Google's Gemini 3 AI model. Users need no coding knowledge: they can simply type a prompt and/or upload an image or video to “create fun, bite-sized games in minutes” and then share them on YouTube.
The results can hardly compete with the quality and originality of the best indie games of 2025. While the games are playable, they're very simple platformers, and whether they will hold anyone's attention for more than a few seconds remains to be seen.
The games available so far were prompted by YouTube game streamer AyChristeneGames, content creator Sambucha, tech YouTuber Billyfx (see his making of video below), the popular Minecraft superflat creator Mogswamp and JuniperDev. There's also Study Zone from 'study hacks' provider Gohar Khan.
YouTube began testing Playables back in 2023. It launched mini games for all users in May 2024 and has since added multiplayer capability. Titles include games from GameSnacks, the Google HTML minigames service.
The format has received tepid reception, with many finding the games to be repetitive and uninspiring. The launch of an AI-driven Playables Builder seems to be an attempt to get someone to care about it: if devs and gamers don't want to make and play games in YouTube, perhaps content creators and their followers will.
YouTube says Playables Builder marks the start of a “new era of creator-made games”. Some have been quick to point out that the games are AI-made no creator-made.
“So content creators can get paid for stuff they didn't even put effort into.... YouTube has officially reached its end,” one person predicts on X.
The news follows the recent announcement of what's being billed as the world's first 100% AI game, Codex Mortis. Its developers may now face a challenge: will people want to buy its AI slop if they can generate their own so easily?
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