Google is offering a new way to install Google Play Games on Windows PCs through Google Essentials. It’s a desktop app that bundles popular Google services (in addition to Google Play Games) and lets you easily sync them between your phone and PC. It’ll first roll out to HP computers.
Essentials can be quickly launched from the Start menu on Windows. It gives you access to Google’s entire library of games that run natively on desktop and Android devices (Angry Birds 2, Clash of Clans, and Asphalt Legends to name a few). You can sign in with the same Google account, and it’ll sync your achievements and progress across platforms “so you can pick things back up whether you’re on an Android device or PC.”
Beyond gaming, Essentials also features popular Google services like Google Photos and Google Messages, so you can “enjoy your photo albums and respond to texts from friends and family” right from your desktop. They’re not full-fledged apps, but Google Essentials includes shortcuts for the web versions of Google Workspace apps like Docs, Drive, and Sheets. Google also announced a Google One promotion for new subscribers via Essentials. “Eligible Google One subscribers can get access to a 2-month trial of Google One 100GB for their cloud storage needs, on us,” the announcement reads.
For now, Google is only shipping the Google Essentials app with some popular lines of HP computers. HP Spectre, HP Envy, HP Pavilion, HP Omen, and HP Victus models will be the first to get the new Essentials app. More Windows computers and laptops will follow suit in the coming months, including the entire line of HP Omnibook laptops. Google also explained that the Essentials app is not baked into Windows. You can uninstall any of the bundled apps in Essentials or remove Essentials entirely.
Source: Google
