Google Play Games is coming to Windows PCs in 2022

By Jesse Hollington December 9, 2021

In one of the biggest cross-platform moves we’ve seen in a while, Google has announced that it’s bringing Google Play Games to Windows PCs starting next year.

The news was announced at The Game Awards 2021 by host Geoff Keighley, who also shared a brief teaser video. While there’s not a great deal of additional information available yet, the promise is that you’ll be able to play your favorite mobile games on your Windows PC, so it looks like Google won’t be holding back on putting its best titles forward for cross-platform play.

In fact, according to Greg Hartrell, product director for Google Play games, users will be able to seamlessly switch between their Android smartphone and Windows PC as easily as they can currently pick up gameplay on a Chromebook or tablet. “Google Play has helped billions of people find and play their favorite games across multiple platforms, including on mobile, tablets and ChromeOS,” said Hartrell, adding that Google’s new initiative “brings the best of Google Play Games to more laptops and desktops, and we are thrilled to expand our platform for players to enjoy their favorite Android games even more.”

During the awards, Keighley added that you’ll be able to “take games from your pocket to your desktop and seamlessly pick up where you left off.”

Gaming on Chromebooks hasn’t always provided the best experience, since Chrome OS isn’t really built for gaming, and many lower-end Chromebooks are marketed more for work and study, so support for Google Play Games on Windows PCs promises to be a real game changer.

It’s not clear right now what the minimum specs will be for Windows PCs to participate, but Hartrell promises that Google will have more to share soon, so stay tuned for these details as they become available.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Jesse Hollington

Mobile Writer

Jesse has been a technology enthusiast for his entire life — he probably would have been born with an iPhone in his hand…

Gaming

Is Baldur’s Gate 3 cross-platform?

A Baldur's Gate 3 character lights the way.

The biggest CRPG of the year, if not ever, promises a huge adventure that you are encouraged to play cooperatively with up to four friends. While online play is expected in the modern era, Baldur's Gate 3 surprisingly also supports split-screen co-op on every PC and PS5 as well, meaning you can run an entire campaign with a friend side-by-side. As great as all that is, the vast majority of people will likely want to play with a friend in the comfort of their own homes, which might mean a PC player and a PS5 player will want to team up. Is that possible in Baldur's Gate 3? Here's a quick rundown of this game's cross-platform support.
Is Baldur's Gate 3 cross-platform?

In short, no, Baldur's Gate 3 will not allow for cross-platform play. If you are playing on PC, then anyone you want to play online with will also need to be on PC, and the same is true for PS5. While this is true for now, it is possible that Larian Studios may add cross-platform play in a future update, but for now, it is safer to assume it won't come and make your purchasing decision accordingly.

Gaming

PlayStation Portal misunderstands remote play and cloud gaming’s appeal

A PlayStation Portal boots up.

Sony finally revealed more details about its upcoming handheld, now called PlayStation Portal, but these announcements have soured my opinion on the device rather than hyped me up for it. I enjoy cloud gaming and have used a variety of services like Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and Xbox Cloud Gaming - across my phone and even dedicated devices like the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld. Because of that, I was really excited to see what PlayStation could do as it entered the space. Unfortunately, some specific exclusions from PlayStation Portal's functionality that make it more of a remote-play device rather than a cloud gaming handheld indicate that Sony has a fundamental misunderstanding about what people would want out of a PlayStation game streaming handheld.

Namely, the device's positioning as primarily a "remote play dedicated device" and the exclusion of PlayStation Plus Premium cloud gaming compatibility drastically shrinks the number of reasons people should pick the device up. Cloud gaming and devices built around it have been around long enough to show that an inclusive approach to the number of services, games, and kinds of game streaming available is vital to success, and for a $200 handheld, PlayStation Portal seems like it's excluding way too much.
Narrowing its appeal
Remote play differs from what's more ubiquitously referred to as cloud gaming players are running the games on their own consoles rather than a third-party console or server. Still, it's a form of streaming games over a Wi-Fi connection, typically through an app on a phone or device like the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld. That means you'll have to stick around your own home to use the PlayStation Portal, and its game library is limited to whatever the user owns on the console. That's limiting (it's like if Steam Deck only ran Steam Link) but does have some use cases. Still, it doesn't necessarily feel like it warrants a dedicated $200 device over a phone and a nice mobile controller like the Razer Kishi V2 or Backbone One - PlayStation Edition; haptic feedback and adaptive triggers only go so far.

Gaming

The best free-to-play mobile games

Marvel Snap running on the OnePlus Nord N30 5G.

The realm of mobile gaming has come a long way since the days when you were lucky if you could play a game of Snake on your brick of a phone. Today, we all have essentially a modern console in our pockets with games that look and play just as good as what is offered on current consoles. Unlike the console or PC space, mobile games have mostly stuck to either being extremely cheap or simply free-to-play. While that sounds great on the surface, it also means that the storefronts are filled with thousands of games looking for your attention, with only a select few worthy of your time. If you're looking for your next mobile go-to with no upfront cost, here are the best free-to-play mobile games you may never delete from your home screen.

Honkai: Star Rail