Play Android games on PC: Until now, those who were interested in this had to resort to third-party emulators. Now there is also an option from the official side.

Microsoft announced a while ago that it would integrate support for Android apps on Windows. The feature was first tested in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, and has been offered in the US and Canada since last November.

Those who wanted to play Android games on their PC in this country had to resort to third-party emulators such as Bluestacks. Now the beta is starting in this country as well.

Minimum requirements are low

You can download the beta version of Google Play Games for PC on the official website (free). The minimum requirements are very low, so most computers should be able to cope with the app:

Operating system: Windows 10 (v2004 or higher)

Memory: SSD with 10 GByte available memory

Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 or higher

Processor: Quad-Core CPU (some games require an Intel CPU)

Memory: 8.0 GB RAM

Windows administrator account

Hardware virtualisation must be enabled 

After the installation is complete, the app prompts you to activate the Windows virtualisation platform . This is done with one click and then a restart is necessary. Of course, you will also need to log into your Google account. 

You will also notice that there is no search function  This is probably because not all Android games are available. Instead, you ll find over 100 games that have been specially optimised for use on PCs.

Google requires developers to optimise apps for keyboard and mouse control before they are allowed to be included in the programme. Some of the games have also been graphically redesigned. The apps must also support the common screen resolutions of Windows computers.

We have briefly tested the beta and the first impression is promising! The keyboard and mouse controls worked perfectly in Horizon Chase and Space Shooter Galaxy Attack and were well thought out. In Space Shooter, the new key assignment was explained well in the tutorial. In Horizon Chase, we had to figure out for ourselves which buttons to use.

Game progress will be synced between your PC and Android devices so you can seamlessly switch from one device to the other. Google also plans to add new games to the programme regularly.

What do you think of the new ability to play Android games on your PC? Are there any particular games you would like to see in the programme? If you’re interested, try it out for yourself and let us know in the comments how your experience was!

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