The Google Play Games program, which lets people play Android games on Windows PCs, has now expanded to several more countries, including the U.S. Google originally announced its Play Games program last November with the promise of being able to play Android games directly on Chromebooks and Windows PCs. The program kickstarted earlier this year as part of a limited test in a handful of countries, including South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia. In August, the program was expanded to all users in these countries as part of an open beta.
While the promise of playing Android games on Windows PCs and Chromebooks sounds exciting, Windows 11 users can now run Android apps on their PCs, thanks to the Windows Subsystem for Android. Officially, users can only run apps from the Amazon Appstore, but APKs can also be sideloaded from the internet using ADB tools. However, the technology is currently only in preview. It is officially available in a few dozen countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and more.
In a post on the Android Developers Blog, Google announced that its Play Games program is expanding to many more regions worldwide. With the latest expansion, Google Play Games is now available in eight more countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. As with the rest of the world, the program is available as an open beta, meaning all eligible PCs that meet the minimum system requirements can access the service.
Play Android Games On Windows PCs
To play Android games on Windows PCs, users must head to the official Google Play Games website and download the app on their computer. Once that's done, users can access dozens of Android games, including several popular ones, such as Asphalt 9: Legends, Pirates of the Caribbean: TOW, Ronin: The Last Samurai, Arknights, etc. Google is expected to add support for more titles in the future, but there's no word on when the program will be expanded to the rest of the world.
Google Play Games is compatible with all PCs running Windows 11 and Windows 10 (v2004). Minimum system requirements include a CPU with at least eight logical cores, a "gaming-class GPU," 8GB of RAM, 20GB of available storage space, an SSD, a Windows admin account, and hardware virtualization. Overall, Google Play Games is an exciting initiative and one that can help Android game developers get a bigger audience beyond mobile devices.
Source: Android Developers Blog, Google Play Games