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Google has announced a major step towards making running Android games on Windows PCs a reality for everyone. The company has released Google Play Games, the service that enables this functionality, in open beta. It has also lowered system requirements for Windows 10 and 11 PC and added support for more games.
Google Play Games for PC was first announced in December last year. The initial release came in January this year but was a closed beta for a small group of users in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. Interested users in these regions could sign up for the beta through a dedicated website and join the waitlist. Google had put in place some strict Windows system requirements, so it wasn’t available for all. Moreover, it only offered access to about a dozen of Android games.
The latest expansion lifts off some of these limitations. As reported by 9to5Google, Google Play Games is now also available in open beta to Windows PC users in Australia and Thailand. There’s no longer a waitlist for it. So interested users start playing Android games immediately after signing up, provided their PC meets the minimum system requirements.
To that end, Google now supports integrated GPUs as well. Earlier, users required PCs with gaming-ready GPU from Nvidia or AMD. The Intel UHD Graphics 630 or a comparable solution will now do. Other minimum requirements include Windows 10 (v2004), SSD (solid state drive) with at least 10 GB of free storage, 8GB of RAM, and a quad-core processor. Users also need a Windows admin account and have hardware virtualization enabled on their PC to play Android games through Google Play Games.
Google now supports more Android games on Windows PC
In addition to these changes, Google is also adding support for more Android games on Windows PCs. According to the new report, you now have more than 50 games to play. These games sync progress across all your devices. We expect the company to continue expanding this collection as it prepares to let everyone play Android games on their Windows 10 or 11 computer.
The app is also seeing some aesthetic changes with the latest update. It switches from a top navigation bar to a navigation rail on the left side. This change is in line with Google’s latest Material You design language for desktop and tablet apps. Hopefully, these upgrades are an indication of a nearing global release of Google Play Games for PC, at least in beta. We will keep you posted.