Google Play Games on PC launches in Europe and Japan

Google announced an expansion of Google Play Games on PC today, noting that more PC gamers could soon play Android games on their computers.

Google Play Games on PC was launched by Google in 2021 to bring Android games to Windows PCs. Microsoft launched the Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows that year, which brought Android application supports to Windows 11. Microsoft selected Amazon as its partner, and rolled out the feature to select regions in an initial beta test.

Google, in the meantime, cooked up its own solution to bringing Android games to PCs. The company's product includes official Google Play Services support, which Microsoft and Amazon can't offer. Another difference between the two products is that the official Windows Subsystem for Android is available for Windows 11 only, while Google's solution is also available for Windows 10.

Google started Play Games on PC in 2022 as a beta test in select regions, including the United States, Canada, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

One year later, Google announced an extension of the service to more regions. Japan and "countries in Europe" are mentioned specifically by Google. The expansion happens in the "next couple of months" and several new games will be added to the list of available games.

Google Play Games on PC supports a small selection of games only, especially when compared to the games that are available directly on Android devices via Google Play.

Google Play Games for PC Expansion

The user experience of Google Play Games on PC is improved as well, according to the announcement. Google, in partnership with Intel, has developed a solution to use "an existing mobile build". Game developers may now submit their mobile builds for participation in the program to "reach players faster". Google notes that fully optimized games "offer the best experience for users" and that only these games "qualify for unique cross-platform marketing and promotion".

Developers have also access to a new Google Play Games on PC developer emulator. It is a build of Google Play Games specifically for developers, giving them the ability to help in debug and build processes. The new emulator allows developers to deploy games directly, for instance through sideloading or by using Android Studio, and to adjust graphics and hardware settings, to test different configurations.

Google has updated its release checklist, which developers may use for verification before submitting a build. The checklist covers key requirements, such as "supporting Windows aspect ratios, and implementing mouse and keyboard input" according to Google. Google published five videos on YouTube about the update.

Google plans to roll out Next Generation Player IDs to all users to "keep a user's Player ID consistent across surfaces for any given game".

Windows gamers who plan to join Google Play Games for PC should take note of the changed minimum system requirements. It now requires a gaming-class GPU and 8 logical cores of CPU; previously, 4 physical CPU cores.

Google has not revealed yet how popular Google Play Games for PC is.

Advertisement