Ahead of next week’s GDC game developers conference, Google has announced that all Android mobile games will be available on Google Play Games on PC unless the developer explicitly opts out. This change could significantly increase the number of games on the platform, as Google’s previous policy was to the contrary, requiring a developer or publisher to opt in to Google Play Games on PC.
Image source: Google
Google Play Games launched in beta in 2022 to bring Android games to PCs. Since then, Google has been steadily expanding the availability of games and evolving the program. Google also introduced a new “playability badge” for mobile games available on PCs.
According to Aurash Mahbod, general manager of games at Google Play, the “optimized” badge means that a game “meets all of our quality standards for a great gaming experience,” while “playable” means that a game “meets the minimum requirements to play well on PC.” Games with the “unverified” badge only show up in the store when you search for them. The badges themselves are slightly reminiscent of their Steam counterparts, indicating compatibility with the Steam Deck.
Google is also making a serious effort to bring native PC games to the Google Play Games service on PC. There are currently more than 50 such games on the platform. This year, Google plans to open a program for all PC game developers to bring and host their games on Google Play Games on PC.
Google is expanding the availability of Google Play Games on PCs, moving from a limited catalog of games for AMD laptops and desktops to a full catalog. Mahbod also said that Google is “working with PC OEMs to make Google Play Games available directly from the Start menu on new devices starting this year.” The company will also roll out support for multiple Google Play Games accounts on PCs this month.
According to Mahbod, the Google Play Games service on PC will become generally available later this year.