Google is getting serious about gaming on PC and Android

Summary

• Google Play Games will offer all mobile games on PC by default, with granular control customization.
• PC gamers can expect optimized game titles, a dedicated sidebar for adjustments, expanded support for AMD-powered devices, and playability badges.
• Behind the scenes, Vulkan is now the official graphics API for Android moving forward.

While Microsoft's Android app support on Windows 11 came to an end last week, the dream of playing your favorite mobile games on PC remains alive and well. With GDC set to kick off next week in San Francisco, Google is getting ahead of the game with some big changes to its Play Games platform on PC. Not only are some of these changes enough to make Google Play Games a solid rival to other gaming hubs, but it could be the beginning of true support for PC games coming to your smartphone or tablet.

There's plenty to break down here, but let's start with the biggest news. Google is making all mobile games available on PC by default, with developers now given the ability to opt out rather than in. This should make Play Games feel a little more robust, similar to the selection of titles on your Android phone or tablet right now. Obviously, you'll still want to prioritize titles that are optimized for PC gamers — whether you're playing with a controller or a mouse and keyboard — but Google's got a solution for that too.

Players are now able to fully customize their controls within each individual title, allowing for more granular options and improved comfort while playing. Later this month, Google is also adding an in-game sidebar to Play Games, allowing for both specific adjustments without having to quit out of the title and multi-account support. Google's even taking a page out of Steam's book, adding playability badges to help gamers find supported titles with the best support for PC. The three badges — Optimized, Playable, and Untested — will appear on each store page, and developers can request playability tests from Google at any time.

It's not just Play Games' library that's about to grow, though — it's also the amount of supported devices. Full support for AMD laptops and desktops is here, and speaking as someone currently rocking an AMD-powered laptop, I couldn't be happier. Google is also working with PC OEMs to make the Play Games platform available from the Start menu in Windows, which should make for a great replacement for the now-defunct Windows Subsystem for Android. That menu is only coming to new PCs, so don't stress about unwanted software appearing on your computer any time soon.

Google's making some big changes for developers, too

And it should result in better, prettier games on Android

Frankly, all of that news is big enough to stand on its own, but seeing as GDC is a developers conference, Google's also making some big waves behind the scenes. The company is launching a PC pilot program to bring more games to mobile. This program includes Dredge, which launched on the Play Store just a couple of weeks ago, and TABS (Totally Accurate Battle Simulator) Mobile, a port of which has been in the works for a couple of years.

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Even more exciting, though, is news that Disco Elysium is coming to Android later this year, complete with controls optimized for smartphones. Disco Elysium is one of the best RPGs I've ever played — although calling it an RPG feels like a disservice to how unique it actually feels — though considering the original development team has since split up, it's unclear who's handling this port. Still, this program sounds like a really promising way to compete with some of the console games that have arrived exclusively on iOS; I'm excited to see what else is on its way to Android.

Alongside the move from PC to mobile, Google is also opening up for more PC-first and PC-exclusive titles. That could help make Play Games a real rival to the Epic Games Store, or even Steam, should enough developers follow Google's lead. The incentives are there — including a new and boosted earnback program — but whether the players will actually show up, I think, depends on the library of titles available.

Finally, Google is making Vulkan the official graphics API of Android moving forward. While this won't mean much for players at first, it should allow developers to improve performance while also implementing ray tracing for better visuals. Google clearly sees Vulkan as the future of mobile gaming, as with Android 16, more phones will use Vulkan as their sole graphics processor. Games relying on OpenGL will use ANGLE, added in Android 15, as a translation layer between the two APIs, while engines like Unity are gearing up support for this change.