Google's got games Google is bringing every Android game to Windows in big gaming update Google has big plans for gaming in 2025. Ryan Whitwam Mar 13, 2025 11:45 am | 45 Credit: Ryan Whitwam Credit: Ryan Whitwam Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe annual Game Developers Conference is about to kick off, and even though Stadia is dead and buried, Google has a lot of plans for games. It's expanding tools that help PC developers bring premium games to Android, and games are heading in the other direction, too. The PC-based Play Games platform is expanding to bring every single Android game to Windows. Google doesn't have a firm timeline for all these changes, but 2025 will be an interesting year for the company's gaming efforts.Google released the first beta of Google Play Games on PC back in 2022, allowing you to play Android games on a PC. It has chugged along quietly ever since, mostly because of the anemic and largely uninteresting game catalog. While there are hundreds of thousands of Android games, only a handful were made available in the PC client. That's changing in a big way now that Google is bringing over every Android game from Google Play.Starting today, you'll see thousands of new games in Google Play Games on PC. Developers actually have to opt out if they don't want their games available on Windows machines via Google Play Games. Google says this is possible thanks to improved custom controls, making it easy to map keyboard and gamepad controls onto games that were designed for touchscreens (see below). The usability of these mapped controls will probably vary dramatically from game to game.While almost every Android game will soon be available on Windows, not all will get top billing. Google Play Games on PC has a playability badge, indicating a game has been tested on Windows. Games that have been specifically optimized for PC get a more prominent badge. Games with the "Playable" or "Optimized" distinction will appear throughout the client in lists of suggested titles, but untested games will only appear if you search for them. However, you can install them all just the same, and they'll work better on AMD-based machines, support for which has been lacking throughout the beta.Google also previewed a few more changes coming to the PC-based game platform. In the next few weeks, the service will get a new sidebar for easy access to game and control settings. Google Play Games on PC will also get support for multi-account and multi-instance, allowing you to play multiple games with more than one account at the same time. This is, allegedly, a highly requested feature.If this sounds like a lot to add to a beta service, you're right. Google confirms Play Games on PC will be shedding that designation later this year. While there are many, many mobile games that won't translate well to a computer regardless of Google's updated control mapping, plenty will work just fine and provide a new source of games for Windows.Is Google finally getting serious about Android gaming?As for games on Android, Google now hopes to build on the success of high-end cross-platform hits like Genshin Impact and Diablo Immortal. These games are crawling with in-app purchases, but they're very pretty and have made a lot of money on Android.Google has often fallen short on developer support in the Play Store, but the expanded native PC program could help it turn a corner. There will be a new native SDK for PC games, helping developers distribute titles in the Play Store with support for both mobile and PC builds. So you might see PC-only games being distributed on Windows via Google's Play Games client. Look out, Steam? The program is also open to all interested PC game developers starting today.Meanwhile, developers building high-end games for mobile will be happy to hear that Google is going all-in with Vulkan. Google says Android is moving to a "modern, unified rendering stack" with Vulkan as the default graphics API. This will make it easier for developers to take advantage of features like ray tracing and multithreading, and Google promises deep integration with popular engines like Unity 6 to supposedly make it easier to optimize for Android's diverse hardware ecosystem. This has been one of the most substantial barriers to entry for developers to port games to Android.Google says it's also launching a new pilot program to give developers tools to bring PC-first experiences to Android devices, and it has three titles lined up, one of which is already live. The fishing adventure Dredge is on sale in the Play Store after launching on PC and consoles in 2023. It will be joined in several weeks by the mobile version of the popular physics-based strategy game TABS. The old-school-style RPG Disco Elysium will arrive later this year as well. Dredge is listed at a whopping $25, which is the same as its Steam list price. So we would expect future PC-on-Android games to be similarly spendy.Nothing is changing overnight, but these are all positive moves for Google's gaming efforts. The proliferation of free-to-play games on mobile has drowned out premium experiences. After trudging through in-app purchases in almost every popular mobile game for years, it may actually be refreshing to pay $25 for a good-looking mobile game that doesn't beg for money every few minutes.Ryan WhitwamSenior Technology ReporterRyan WhitwamSenior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 45 Comments