Last year, Google told us at The Game Awards that it planned to bring Android games to Windows PCs under the Google Play Games banner — basically launching an Android app store for Windows, limited to games. True to its prior promises, Google has more to share with us now that it's 2022. Starting today, interested parties can sign up for a limited beta of the new Google Play Games for PC, but only if you're in Hong Kong, South Korea, or Taiwan.
A full list of launch titles for the beta wasn't provided, but games beta testers will be able to enjoy include:
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
- Summoners War
- State of Survival: The Joker Collaboration
- Three Kingdoms Tactics
Other titles are shown in today's promo video, though, embedded below. Google does warn that the list of games might vary by region.
Sadly, there's no beta here in the US just yet, and it's not clear how the test markets were chosen. However, since the US usually gets all of Google's attention, turnabout is fair play. Maybe it's good that other countries get to enjoy something from Google first for once.
Google tells us the games will be playable on Windows during the beta courtesy of a standalone application built by Google, with support for mouse and keyboard input and cross-platform achievement and save sync — though it's not clear how much of that will be functional at the beta's launch or if all titles will be compatible with all features.
Minimum requirements start with Windows 10+ (v2004) and at least an 8-core CPU (with hardware virtualization support), 8GB of RAM, 20GB of faster SSD space, and a handful of "select gaming-class" GPUs. All that means you'll need a reasonably high-end and recent machine, but it doesn't require Windows 11. Google tells us these requirements will be lower in the future.
Android game developers can also express their interest in Google Play Games for PC. Documentation for developers is also coming today, with information like making sure your game is optimized for Windows PCs, etc. If you're a game developer hoping for an early shot at the new platform, it's time to get started, as Google tells us that the platform requires support for large screens and mouse and keyboard controls, though more requirements will be published later.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will have to wait for the first impressions of the new Android-game-on-Windows platform from the test markets — though Google tells us it will have more to share on future beta market availability soon.