Key Highlights:
- In 2022, Google will release a Google Play Games app that will allow Google Play games to operate on Windows laptops, tablets, and PCs.
- It’s unclear what technology Google is employing to imitate Android apps on Windows, but games will run locally rather than streaming from the cloud.
- Microsoft has developed an underlying Windows Subsystem for Android that can execute Android apps from a number of sources.
Android games to run on Windows
Google intends to bring Android games to Windows PCs early next year. In 2022, Google will release a Google Play Games app that will allow Google Play games to operate on Windows laptops, tablets, and PCs.
“Starting in 2022, gamers will be able to experience their favorite Google Play games on additional devices: easily moving between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and soon, Windows PCs,” says Greg Hartrell, Google’s product director of Android and Google Play. “This Google-created product delivers the best of Google Play Games to more laptops and desktops, and we are happy to expand our platform so that users can enjoy their favorite Android games even more.”
According to Google spokeswoman Alex Garcia-Kummert, the business produced this software on its own, which implies Google did not collaborate with Microsoft, BlueStacks, or others. The future program will also allow users to restart games on a desktop PC once they have been completed on a phone, tablet, or Chromebook.
Native Windows program
For the time being, Google is only showcasing the app during The Game Awards with a release date of sometime next year assured. It’s unclear what technology Google is employing to imitate Android apps on Windows, but games will run locally rather than streaming from the cloud.
“This will be a native Windows program published by Google that will support Windows 10 and above,” Hartrell reveals. “There will be no game broadcasting.” Google’s software will not require any special integration with Windows 11, and the corporation will also distribute it.
Google’s disclosure comes after Microsoft began testing Android applications on Windows 11 PCs months ago. Microsoft has developed an underlying Windows Subsystem for Android that can execute Android apps from a number of sources. The software behemoth has teamed with Amazon to allow Windows users to install games and applications from the Amazon Appstore natively, although native Google Play compatibility will not be available through Microsoft’s functionality.
Because Microsoft is only officially partnered with Amazon for that capability, there are considerably fewer Android games and applications accessible for Windows 11 users to readily install than would otherwise be the case. Google, BlueStacks, and others have an opportunity to fill that need.
Bluestacks: A step ahead
While Microsoft and Google attempt to bring Android apps and games to Windows, BlueStacks has gone one step further and is also delivering Android games to web browsers. BlueStacks X is a free method to play Android games in your browser, and BlueStacks has prioritized Android gaming on Windows since it became the primary use case for its main software in 2016.
Details on Google’s ambitions for Android applications on Windows originally surfaced earlier this year in a document from the Epic v. Apple litigation. The 70-page plan, dated October 2020, revealed an ambitious campaign to install Android games on Macs and Windows PCs. According to the paper, Google will first offer “emulated, native, and streaming games” to Windows, with at least a portion of that endeavor beginning in 2022.
Read more: The Most Addictive 20 Android Games
