Google just gave browser games a huge GPU-powered upgrade

Google might have given up on the idea of streaming full-powered games to your browser window, but it’s still invested in playing games online without the hassle of local installs. Of course it is: It makes both a browser and laptops that revolve around that browser. A new API called WebGPU will give remote services more direct access to your local GPU hardware, potentially allowing for full 3D games in the browser that blow current options out of the water.

According to a blog post on Chrome version 113 (spotted by The Verge), the WebGPU tool is “a new dawn for web graphics.” Google says that the updated API beats out current implementations of the same idea thanks to deeper integration with GPU hardware and idiomatic JavaScript support. Future updates will include deeper access to shader cores, and the company is encouraging developers to make specific requests for new features in upcoming versions of the API.

While the system is exclusive to Chrome for now, support for Firefox and Safari is in the works. At the moment it works with Windows (Direct3D 12 required), ChromeOS (Vulkan required), MacOS, Linux, and Android. Unfortunately it’s early days for WebGPU, and Google didn’t offer so much as a tech demo to show it off. Developers will need to embrace it in a big way if it’s going to become a significant tool.