Whether they’re outwitting opponents in the latest mobile game, exploring massively multiplayer online worlds, or navigating 3D spaces in VR, players want to be connected—to new stories and experiences, to their favorite game creators, and to their fellow gamers.

But it can be challenging to build connected games. Developers find they need to spend valuable time and resources managing infrastructure when they should be doing what they are most passionate about—building great games. We want to help.

Today, we’re announcing a strategic alliance with Unity, a leading real-time 3D game and content creation platform, to simplify game development. Working together, we’re building a suite of managed services and tools for creating connected games, the first of which will focus on real-time multiplayer experiences.

As part of this, Google Cloud will be the default cloud provider for developers building connected games with Unity, helping them to easily build and scale their games. This means developers will be able to take advantage of Google Cloud right from the Unity development environment—from our robust global network that enables low-latency player connectivity, to the ability to quickly scale game servers, to multi-TB memory nodes that can hold massive 3D environments—all without needing to become cloud experts.

We’re also collaborating with Unity to co-found an open source project to connect players in multiplayer games. This project deeply embodies our philosophy for gaming—open source, community-driven solutions built in collaboration with the world’s leading game companies. This project will launch publicly for downloads and code contributions this summer—stay tuned for more in the coming months.

In addition, Unity has announced that it’s currently migrating all of the core infrastructure powering its services and offerings to Google Cloud. Unity will be running its business on the same cloud that Unity game developers will develop, test and globally launch their games.

We hope this alliance helps developers build more connected experiences that delight gamers. We’ll roll out new products and features over the coming months, and in the meantime, you can learn more by visiting the connected games page on Unity’s website. If you’re attending Unite Berlin this week, don’t miss the keynote featuring Google Cloud’s CEO Diane Greene on June 19 at 9:00 AM PT, or watch the live stream online.

We can’t wait to play what you build.