Google made an important announcement during The Game Awards, hosted by major gaming and IT companies. According to Greg Hartnell, director of products for Google Play Games, in 2022 it will be possible to launch games from the Google marketplace on Windows PCs.
Google specifically noted that the innovation is not the result of a partnership with Microsoft. Unlike, for example, Amazon, which has agreed to integrate its app store with Windows 11, Google will release a “private”, independent product.
There are not too many details yet. Judging by the voiced data, we are talking about an application that must be downloaded and installed on a PC running Windows. Since we are talking about the Google Play Games platform; you will need to go through authorization using your Google account – just like on Android. According to a Google spokesman, “players will be able to start where they left off” – on smartphones, tablets, Chromebooks and other platforms. This probably means that by being saved on one platform; it will be possible to return to the same moment on another.
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Android games will be officially available on Windows PCs from 2022
According to Google; “this product will provide the best of Android and Google Play Games for the PC ecosystem on Windows”. In other words, it is likely that only a selection of Android games will be available to users; at least at first.
It is not yet known whether the new functionality will be available only on Windows 11 or whether users on Windows 10 will be able to get it, what are the minimum hardware requirements, whether the new software is an unusual emulator of the Android OS or the software will somehow be optimized specifically for Windows. Finally, what kind of games will be available and how will the compatibility of gaming software specially designed for mobile devices like Pokemon Go be ensured? We will discover more soon.
Recently, Microsoft has expanded the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) testing program; which is present in Windows 11 and allows you to run Android applications on your computer. Whereas previously this feature was provided to Windows Insiders on the Beta channel; now it is available to insiders on the Dev channel.
Recall that the WSA subsystem in Windows 11 does not support the launch of Android applications; that require Google Mobile Services to function. Despite this, the enthusiast managed to install the Play Store application on a Windows 11 computer; which effectively made any Android applications available. It is possible that in the future, Play Store support will be officially available.
