Google Play Games for PC is a service that allows you to play your favorite Android games on your Windows PC. It was initially launched in beta form over a year ago and has since been made available in different markets. Recently, it has gotten its biggest expansion to date. Google Play Games for PC is now available throughout Europe and New Zealand.
Google Play Game for PC now available in Europe
As promised by Google in March in the Game Developers Conference, the company has expanded the Play Games for PC beta to New Zealand and other European markets. This is the biggest expansion yet as the beta was earlier limited to only 13 countries.
With this expansion, Google Play Games for PC is now available in 56 countries. Here is the list of all the new countries added to the list (from 9to5Google):
| Austria | France | Lithuania | Romania |
| Belgium | Georgia | Luxembourg | San Marino |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Germany | Macedonia | Serbia |
| Bulgaria | Greece | Malta | Slovakia |
| Croatia | Hungary | Moldova | Slovenia |
| Cyprus | Iceland | Monaco | Spain |
| Czech Republic | Ireland | Netherlands + Netherlands Antilles | Sweden |
| Denmark | Italy | Norway | Switzerland |
| Estonia | Latvia | Poland | Turkey |
| Finland | Liechtenstein | Portugal | Ukraine |
| | | | United Kingdom |
Along with the expansion of service, it has also gained new game titles. The Play Games for PC now supports over 100 games, including 1945 Air Force, Blade Idle, and Cookie Run: Kingdom. Google will add more games to the service as time goes on.
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What is Google Play Games for PC?
Google Play Games was launched in beta testing in January 2022. It allows people to play Android mobile titles on their Windows computers. It also supports Android mobile and tablet, and ChromeOS. With its cross-platform nature, gamers can pick up where they left off on one device when switching to another. This is similar to how many Apple-focused game titles allow users to switch between iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.
The service was first available in overseas markets like Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. In November, it expanded into the United States and other countries. In March, it expanded to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. It is now available in the majority of European countries.
Hardware requirements
Google Play Games on PC is still in beta, but it has its own set of hardware requirements. To run the gaming suite, you will need a computer running Windows 10, an SSD with at least 10GB of storage, an Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU, a 4-core CPU, and at least 8GB of RAM. You will also need Windows administrator access to the machine you are using, and you must turn on hardware virtualization. For a better experience, Google recommends a “gaming-class GPU” like the Nvidia GeForce MX450, and “8 logical cores.”The list of recommended graphics cards by Google includes:
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600, 700, 800, 900, or 10 series
- NVIDIA Volta series
- NVIDIA GeForce 16, 20, or 30 series
- Intel Iris Xe Graphics
- AMD Radeon HD 7790, 7850, 7870, 7950, 7970, or 7990
- AMD Radeon HD 8970 or 8990
- AMD Radeon R9 200 series
- AMD Radeon R7/R9 300 series
- AMD Radeon RX 400 series
- AMD Radeon RX 570, 580, or 890
- AMD Radeon RX Vega series
- AMD Radeon VII series
- AMD Radeon RX 5000 or 6000 series
Moreover, it’s worth noting that Google Play Games for PC currently does not support controllers. The games available have only been optimized for keyboard use. Not every game available on Android devices will be available on the PC beta. However, if you are an avid mobile gamer looking for a new way to play, Google’s effort is definitely worth checking out. You can download the beta from Google here.