Google Play Games on PC started off as a way to play Android games on Windows computers, with your purchases, save files, and other data synchronized across PC and Android devices. Now, Google is turning it into a full-fledged competitor to Steam, the Microsoft Store, and other PC game stores.
Google Play Games for PC, which is still in beta testing, is essentially an Android virtual machine for Windows PCs (like BlueStacks or the Android Studio emulator) connected to the Google Play Store. You can browse for compatible games and play them with your PC’s mouse and keyboard, much like Android apps on a Chromebook, with save data and purchases synchronized with your Google account. It’s an interesting solution for bringing mobile-only games to PCs in a semi-official manner.
Google announced today that it will start enabling all mobile games to be downloaded and installed through the PC app. Games that haven’t been tested on PC will have an ‘Untested’ label and will only appear when you search for it in the Play Store, instead of showcased on the home page and other locations. This should make the PC app much more useful, though many games are still not playable with a mouse and keyboard, even with Google’s new custom control mappings. Game developers also have the option to opt out of PC availability.
Google is also bringing native PC games to the store, starting with titles like Wuthering Waves, Remember of Majesty, Genshin Impact, and Journey of Monarch. The company has created a native PC SDK for in-app purchases, security protection, and other crucial features—akin to the Steamworks SDK for Steam games. Game developers are also able to publish games with both mobile and PC-native builds through Google Play Console, which will be expanded to all game developers (including for PC-only games) later in 2025.
The company said in a blog post, “To enhance our PC experience, we’ve made major upgrades to the platform. Now, gamers can enjoy the full Google Play Games on PC catalog on even more devices, including AMD laptops and desktops. We’re partnering with PC OEMs to make Google Play Games accessible right from the start menu on new devices starting this year.
The New Steam Competitor
It’s clear that Google is positioning Play Games as a full-blown competitor to Steam, the Epic Games Store, the Microsoft Store, and other PC game distribution channels. It will have almost all Android mobile games, and if a game has a PC version available, Play Games will download and install that instead of virtualizing the Android version. It will even be pre-installed on some new PCs.
Steam has proven almost impossible to displace in the PC gaming ecosystem, though competitors like GOG and Itch.io have carved out niches for DRM-free and indie titles. Epic Games has spent a lot of time and money to build its own PC gaming ecosystem, including exclusivity deals that kept some games off Steam for months, but Steam remains the most popular way to buy and play PC games.
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Google might still have some chance at success with Play Games for PC, simply because it’s an extension of the mobile gaming market, which isn’t entirely the same audience as PC and console players. There’s also an opportunity for Google to carve out an audience on Mac, where native game releases are still rare and ARM-based Android virtualization should have great performance. However, the Play Games desktop application is still exclusive to Windows, and the push into PC-native titles (meaning Windows-native) makes a Mac launch seem less likely.
Source: Android Developers Blog
