 |
| Android games are coming to PC |
Google Play Games, this software for running Android titles on PC, is finally available , and with new games every month. A strong competitor for the Windows 11 Android system!
That's it, Google Play Games, this launcher – or launcher, in French – which allows players to enjoy the best mobile titles on their personal computer – is available now ! Because despite its bitter failure with Stadia, its cloud gaming service, the digital giant persists in trying to establish itself as a major player in the video game sector. For this, the company is betting on an idea in which it firmly believes since, according to a survey it conducted in partnership with IPSOS, many people would be very interested in the arrival of mobile games on computers. Indeed, they would be 71% in the United States, 60% in Japan and more than 85% in Brazil and Indonesia to be ready to buy a mobile game to play it on their PC.
Download Google Play Games for PC (Beta)
Announced in December 2021, the service launched in January 2022 in a beta version in a narrow market including Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong. Since November 2, Google Play Games – renamed Google Play Games in French-speaking countries… – has been available in the United States, but also in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The Mountain View company continues its deployment and, on May 24, made its new service available in beta in New Zealand and in 40 European countries, including France, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom. To take advantage of it, just go to the site and click on the green "Download Beta" button. "We are excited to expand our platform to more markets so gamers can enjoy their favorite games on Google Play," said Arjun Dayal, Director of Google Play Games, in a November 2022 blog post. we are moving towards a full release, we will continue to add new features and evaluate feedback from developers and players."
Google Play Games: no need for an overpowered PC
In practice, Google Play Games is software for Windows that allows you to play some Android mobile games – but not all – and therefore enjoy greater comfort and better gameplay. Unlike Stadia or Microsoft's Cloud Gaming, the games do not work through remote servers: they are installed directly on the PC and use the latter's resources. Google has bet on the accessibility card and therefore offers software and games that do not need a war machine to operate. You need at least a PC with a processor (CPU) with four physical cores (Intel or AMD, it doesn't matter), 8 GB of RAM, 10 GB of free storage (SSD), an Intel graphics circuit (GPU) UHD Graphics 630, all running Windows 10 or Windows 11. Of course, a more powerful machine will be even more comfortable, but a five-year-old computer may be enough to enjoy it.
The rendering of the image remains to be seen, because not all games were designed for large screens. Google Play Games supports mouse, keyboard, but also gamepads to make gameplay more comfortable. Note that the interface does not resemble that of the Google Play Store, but is closer to Steam, GOG Galaxy and Epic Games Store. A clearly displayed desire to get closer to these PC gaming platforms.
You can now play your favorite mobile games on PC! Download Google Play Games now, and enjoy uninterrupted, seamless 🤳🖥️ gaming—no matter the screen: https://t.co/1YJKYYicH2
— Google Play (@GooglePlay) May 24, 2023
*Now available in over 40 European countries and New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/1Ymxf14q1K
Google Play Games: a catalog of games still shy
Small problem, however: not all Android titles are compatible. As of now, there are just over 100 games validated by the service, including Just Dance Now, WWE SuperCard, and Cookie Run: Kingdom. Google continues to add new games every month, including Garena Free Fire, Ludo King, and MapleStory. To prevent potential players from simply turning to an Android emulator, the Internet giant is banking on data synchronization via the user's Google account, which allows you to resume a game started from a mobile device on a PC. , and vice versa. In addition, he had announced on YouTube a partnership with Intel to facilitate the task of developers who would like to be part of the program, which would allow him to enrich his catalog more quickly. The latter will have the right to a new emulator in order to perform debugging and optimization operations more easily. They will also have the possibility of translating their games into more than eight languages in just a few minutes via Machine Translation.
Another advantage: players can earn Google Play Points in the same way as on mobile in order to spend them on in-app or game in-app items, earn coupons to buy in-app items or obtain Google Play credit . In March, the company also made an emulator available to developers so that they could easily debug their games.
For the moment, Google Play Games promises to be a nice and free bonus, but which may well be insufficient to allow Google to establish itself in the world of video games. Not to mention that it comes - slightly - in competition with the Android system of Windows 11, which allows it to run almost all Android applications on a PC, but which is in practice much more greedy, thus requiring a Much more muscular PC.