Google is currently running a beta test of its new Google Play Games for PC service, enabling you to play Android games on your Windows desktop or laptop. The free service allows you to play select titles on a bigger screen with a keyboard and mouse. Google syncs your progress across devices, so you can pick up on your computer where you left off on your phone and vice versa.
Not that familiar with Google's games service? Check out our guides to subscribing to Google Play Pass or the Best Mobile Game Controllers.
The minimum requirements for Google Play Games for PC are pretty basic. You will need:
- OS: Windows 10 (v2004)
- Storage: Solid State Drive (SSD) with 10 GB of available storage space
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU or comparable
- Processor: 4 CPU physical cores (some games require an Intel CPU)
- Memory: 8 GB of RAM
You also need a Windows admin account, and hardware virtualization must be turned on.
The service is already available in more than 120 countries. You can check if you are eligible here, and download Google Play Games for PC here. Once installed, sign in with your Google account, and you’re ready to play.
Only a relatively small selection of Android games is available (we counted around 250), but there are a few decent titles. If you sign in with the same Google account you use on your Android phone, you will see all the games in your library that also work on PC listed on the right-hand side of the game hub.
You can tap the magnifying glass on the left to search for games or filter by genre. Here are a few picks we recommend to get you started:
- Kingdom Rush
- Hungry Shark Evolution
- Asphalt 9: Legends
- Fallout Shelter
- Alto’s Odyssey
- Badland
- Infinity Loop
- Cut the Rope 2
- Summoners War
- Looper!
- Grimvalor
Hopefully, Google will add more titles soon. Any developers interested in making their Android games compatible can get started at the official Android developer’s website.
The Google Play Games for PC service works with Google Play Points, so you can earn points for purchases (including subscriptions and in-app purchases) just as you would on an Android device. Any points you accumulate can be redeemed for vouchers and special game offers in the Play Store.
Once you start a game, you can press Shift and Tab to access the menu, where you can change the screen resolution, tweak the volume, and remap the game controls. Some simple one-click games don’t allow remapping, but most do. Sadly, you can only play games with your keyboard and mouse. There is no option to use mobile controllers yet (hopefully there will be in future).
It looks as though all the Android games currently available through Google Play Games for PC are free, though many of them have ads or in-app purchases. As a Google Play Pass subscriber, I was hoping to see some of those titles available for PC, but they are not there yet. However, more games are added each month.
You are prompted to share your experiences after each play session, so you can tell Google what you think of the service so far. The only problem we encountered was that ads in some games refused to load. While the available games are all optimized in some way to run on a PC, some titles designed for handheld screens feel distinctly strange on an ultrawide with a keyboard and mouse.
