Google is making waves for mobile gamers ahead of next week’s annual Game Developers Conference. Google announced on Thursday that all mobile Android games will be available by default on Google Play Games on PC.
“We’re making mobile games available on PC by default,” said Aurash Mahbod, the vice president and general manager of games on Google Play, in an Android Developer video.
That means you’ll be able to play popular games like Clash of Clans and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, as well as upcoming games, like Game of Thrones: Kingsroad and Odin: Valhalla Rising, on either your Android device on the go or your PC at home.
Google Play games will also feature a playability badge on their download pages. There are three badges you’ll see that will indicate whether a game is optimized to perform on PC, whether it’s playable but could use some improvements or whether the game is untested but can still run on PC. However, untested games will only appear if you search for them specifically in the Google Play Games on PC search menu.
Mobile game developers will have to opt out of having their game playable on PC.
Google also announced on Thursday that it’s making Google Play Games on PC available on more devices, including AMD laptops and desktops.
Google Play Games on PC launched in beta in 2022 as a way to let people play some Android games on their computer. Google has expanded the library of PC-playable mobile games since then, culminating in this announcement, but the service remains in beta.
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Why play mobile games on a PC?
There are a couple reasons why someone might play a mobile game on a PC, including difficulty with the controls.
Some mobile games have a learning curve when it comes to mastering touchscreen controls that some console or PC gamers might not want to deal with. Some people — like me — connect a console controller via Bluetooth to their mobile device, but that still excludes PC gamers who are used to a mouse and keyboard control setup. By bringing mobile games to PC, those games can be enjoyed by an audience that may not have considered playing the game before.
Playing a game on a mobile device can also be difficult visually, especially when objects and enemies on screen are the size of a few pixels. But by playing these games on a larger monitor, you can actually see that sniper across the battlefield or the key on the ground you’re supposed to grab.
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