What you need to know
- Google recently announced that Google Play games will be available on Windows PCs starting at some point in 2022.
- The majority of polled Windows Central readers plan to play Google Play games on their PCs.
- Google Play games will run locally on PCs and use Google's own technology rather than Microsoft's Subsystem for Android.
Google Play games will arrive on Windows PCs at some point in 2022. Google announced the move at the Game Awards 2021. Windows devices will receive a massive library of titles, including the best Android games once Google Play games make their way to PCs. We were curious if our readers plan to play these types of games on Windows or if they'll stick with the best PC games built with computers in mind.
We ran a poll over the weekend to gather the thoughts of our readers. While not overwhelming, the results fall comfortably in favor of using Google Play games on Windows PCs. 62% of polled participants will play these types of games on their PCs as opposed to 38% who will not.
Multiple readers highlighted that Google Play games being on Windows PC will benefit children. "Mostly my daughters who wonder all the time why all the games that everybody plays are never available on Windows... they will use it a lot," said ElRodeo.
DeeMickSee expressed similar thoughts. "Hard to overstate how underserved the toddler age group is in Desktop OS', and how much better the support is in Mobile OS."
Ladydias responded to that comment, stating, "this is such a good point. I have kids who are at the toddler stage and having access to some of those early learning games and apps on PC would be awesome."
TechFreak1 falls on the other side of the argument. "Nope, I'll be playing PC games on my PC not mobile games. Plus with cloud streaming such as xcloud most people don't need mobile games on low end hardware."
Other commenters took a wait-and-see approach. "This depends on games, since not all Android games will have controller or proper Keyboard+Mouse support despite the game seems meant to have it like RPGs. We don't know yet if these Google Play games on Windows will showcase all of the games in the store or just curated ones that can be played well on PC. For now, we just have to wait [to see] what exactly this is," said aXross.
