Google launched itsown app store for Android games on Windowsin 2022. Google Play Games for PC remains in beta over a year after it first went live despite several improvements, including a lower barrier for running the games. In November last year, theprogram made its way to the US, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and several other countries. At the Google for Games Developer Summit, the companyannouncedfurther expansion of Play Games for PC to new regions. Some popular games are also making their way to the platform, with Google rolling out many developer-centric changes to boost adoption.
Play Games for PC is currently available in 13 regions. Google will expand the beta to Japan and most parts of Europe in the coming weeks. As for games, several popular Android games like Angry Birds 2, Garena Free Fire, Ludo King, and MapleStory M are coming to Windows.
Despite Google’s best efforts and the latest additions, the games library of Play Games for PC is not very expansive. To get more games onboard, Google has partnered with Intel to allow developers to submit games compiled for phones instead of PCs to Play Games on PC. But your game will only be approved if it works well on the desktop.
Despite allowing mobile-compiled games, Google encourages developers to optimize and compile their games for PC. To make this easier, the company has released a new developer-focused Play Games on PC emulator, allowing for easier debugging, compilation, and direct sideloading of APKs.
Developers can also use Android Studio to tweak the graphics and hardware settings to evaluate the performance of their game on different configurations. For now, developers must express their interest to use the new emulator.
A new Play Games release checklist will help developers ensure they are not missing anything important before submitting their games for approval. This includes using high-resolution textures and assets, supporting mouse and keyboard input, and more.
