Solana Labs and Google Cloud recently launched Gameshift, a gaming development API that aims to bridge traditional Web2 experiences with Web3 services such as blockchain technology and digital asset management.

The new suite of tools was announced at the 2024 Solana Breakpoint conference during the “Gamer Village” side stage events. Gameshift is the next stage of the two companies’ extended partnership and is currently available on the Google Cloud Marketplace. 

A Web2-to-Web3 bridge

According to a blog post from Google Cloud, Gameshift is an API that provides a full suite of foundational Web3 services to projects hosted within the cloud ecosystem. 

A chart showing how Gameshift integrates with Google Cloud. Source: Google Cloud

The tool is largely aimed at developers working on traditional games who want to add Web3 components such as non-fungible tokens or other digital assets to their experiences. It’s purported to do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to integrating blockchain-based services from one platform to the other in a secure pipeline. 

Jack Buser, director for Games at Google Cloud, described the challenge of integrating the two worlds as one of building nascent technology into established industries one step at a time:

“Game studios have recently been considering Web3 for new approaches to growth and development but are often discouraged by the seeming complexity of the technology and the Web3 community. Game studios are already overburdened and need solutions like GameShift that provide simplified technical and cultural interfaces to Web3.”

The path ahead for Web3

It’s become a tradition for Google Cloud and Solana Labs to announce new integrations in their ongoing partnership at the annual Solana Breakout event.

As Cointelegraph reported in 2022, the firms announced that Google Cloud had become a node validator for the Solana blockchain during that year’s conference. 

At the 2022 event, Solana also announced a Web3 store and a new blockchain-enabled smartphone device.

Those attending in 2024 may have experienced “deja-vu,” however, as not only did the latest event again feature announcements from Google Cloud and a new Web3 API, but Solana also unveiled the latest model in its lineup of blockchain-enabled smartphones. 

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