What is Google Play Games?

Mobile gaming has grown substantially over the past two decades, and one of the driving factors has been the establishment and easy access of app stores. There are a few different stores that have cemented themselves as the industry standard above others, including Google Play Store.

Rivaling Apple’s App Store, the Google Play Store brings a huge library of Android apps and games to users all over the world, and soon, Windows users.

Google is gearing up for big things with their Google Play Games ecosystem. But what exactly is it?

What is Google Play Games?

Google Play Games is a cloud gaming ecosystem that records achievements and saves, and will allow gamers to transition players between different platforms.

“Starting in 2022, players will be able to experience their favorite Google Play games on more devices: seamlessly switching between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and soon, Windows PCs,” Google product director Greg Hartrell said in a statement to The Verge.

This means that you’ll soon be able to play your favorite Android games from the Google Play Store on your Windows PC without requiring any emulation. There have been plenty of ways to achieve this, but they all required emulation to achieve the same result. With Google Play Games, this can be done natively, hopefully providing a boost in performance.

Google’s brief tease at The Game Awards 2021 didn’t give any specific date for when Windows would be supported, but we can expect more news to surface in the new year.