The latest release from Google, WebGPU technology, promises to usher in a new era for browser games, offering improved graphical fidelity and overall gaming experience. This groundbreaking new API (Application Programming Interface) allows the Chrome browser to harness the power of a computer's graphics card and optimize web-based video games to a higher standard.
The development of the WebGPU API has been underway for six years by the GPU for the Web Community Group, with the collaboration of tech giants such as Mozilla, Apple, and Microsoft. This new API serves as a successor to the current WebGL model, reducing the JavaScript workload for browsers and tripling the performance of machine learning model inferences. The ultimate aim is to enable browser games to display highly detailed scenes with numerous objects, making many modern rendering techniques feasible. Existing titles using JavaScript 3D libraries, like Babylon.js, can also benefit from these improvements.
Beyond gaming applications, WebGPU's technology can be applied to productivity apps for offloading computations to the GPU. This innovation can be utilized by teleconferencing platforms, such as Google Meet, to operate more efficiently in line with improved machine learning capabilities, as explained in the WebGPU Explainer.
The WebGPU technology is currently available as a default setting on the Chrome Beta 113, with downloads available for Windows, ChromeOS, and macOS systems. To access the feature on the first two platforms, specific system requirements must be met: Windows devices need to support Direct3D 12, and ChromeOS devices require Vulkan API enabled. For those wishing to use a stable release, Chrome 113 will officially launch with WebGPU on April 26.
Google offers resources for users eager to experience the API firsthand. Tests conducted on games in the Babylon.js library using both Chrome 111 and Chrome 113 Beta show improvements. Specific games, such as Temple Run 2, might not experience a substantial performance boost, but Shell Shockers, an FPS multiplayer game, showed faster load times and smoother frame rates. Although the graphics of the tested games haven't changed significantly, the adoption process has just begun. To showcase the graphical capabilities of WebGPU, Babylon.js features a free tech demo on its website.
Regarding other browsers, WebGPU support for Firefox and Safari is currently a work in progress. Linux and Android devices are also scheduled to receive the API in the future. Although there's no official word on an iOS release yet, macOS support suggests that it's only a matter of time.
This new technology holds the potential to revolutionize not only the gaming industry but also other fields, such as business application development. For example, AppMaster users can leverage the power of WebGPU to create visually impressive and high-performance backend, web, and mobile applications on AppMaster's no-code platform.
