Tech giant Google is reportedly planning to bring Android games to Windows PCs next year.
According to The Verge, “a Google Play Games app will be available in 2022, built by Google to allow games from Google Play to run on Windows laptops, tablets, and PCs”.
“Starting in 2022, players will be able to experience their favourite Google Play games on more devices: seamlessly switching between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and soon, Windows PCs,” Greg Hartrell, Google’s product director of games on Android and Google Play was quoted as saying by the website.
“This Google built product 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 favourite Android games even more,” Hartrell added.
Google spokesperson Alex Garcia-Kummert told The Verge that “the company has built this app on its own, which means Google has not partnered with Microsoft, BlueStacks, or others here. The upcoming app will also allow players to resume games on a desktop PC, after playing them on a phone, tablet, or Chromebook”.
For now, Google is simply teasing the app during The Game Awards tonight, with a promised release window of sometime next year, the report said.
It is not yet clear what technology Google is using to emulate Android apps on Windows, but games will run locally instead of streaming from the cloud, it added.
“This will be a native Windows app distributed by Google, which will support Windows 10 and up,” Hartrell said.
“It will not involve game streaming,” Hartrell added.
According to the report, Google’s app won’t rely on any special integration with Windows 11, and the company will also distribute the app itself.
Google’s announcement comes months after Microsoft started testing Android apps on Windows 11 PCs.
