Google goes straight for Steam and Epic with native PC games

Google may have left the game streaming market with its big Stadia exit, but the company still seems committed to gaming as a whole. In 2022, it launched Google Play Games for PC, its biggest push yet towards gaming on desktop computers. Roughly two years later, at its annual Games Developer Summit, the company announced that it’s now expanding its catalog with more native PC games.

While you can already install and play some native Windows games via Play Games on PC, it’s a handpicked selection of partners Google is working with. Among them are titles like Lineage2M, Odin: Valhalla Rising, Genshin Impact, and Dragonheir: Silent Gods. Google wants to expand the number of native games by opening up native game publishing to all developers who are interested. The company hasn’t announced a timeline beyond "this year," but developers can express interest starting now.

While you could easily get native PC games from established platforms like Steam or Epic, Google wants to woo you with tighter integration with your Google account. This makes it possible to use Play Store payment methods and credit, and gets you access to Play Pass content on PCs. It additionally enables tighter integration across mobile and desktop platforms.

Ads could become an even more integral part of games

Get ready for immersive in-game apps

Google also has a few announcements relevant for mobile devices. First and foremost, Google’s AdMob adverts could become a more integral part of games, with new immersive in-game ads. Google says that “publishers will be able to reimagine the in-game ad experience and display an ad that blends naturally into game environments. It works across a spectrum of game genres, with ample placement opportunities such as intermission breaks, level progressions and more.“

Like in the screenshot, this means that advertising content can be dynamically placed within custom containers of the game itself rather than in an extra full-screen section or a bottom bar. You may start seeing these on select games soon, too, as Google notes: “Immersive in-game ads are available through AdMob in closed beta. Developers like APPS, NewStory, Supercent and Unico Studio are actively experimenting with this new ad format in their games.“

Better game progression syncing

Play Games Services can help you pick up where you left off

One big advantage of Google Play Games is that it can save your achievements, your in-game progress, and customization options in the cloud. When everything works, this makes it easy to switch between devices while gaming. In the background, it isn’t always easy for developers to implement the underlying Play Games Services (PGS), though, which is what Google is tackling in the near future.

Google has announced that going forward, no database changes are required for developers to integrate PGS, and the association between in-game profiles and Google profiles will no longer need to be stored by the developers themselves. Google also says that developers “can start automatically syncing your users’ sign in information via PGS, including those without a profile.”

Play Pass will add in-game offers

And the Play Store will give you more details about game updates

Google also announced some smaller changes to the Play Pass. The $5 per month subscription now will give you access to a few in-game offers and discounts, starting with big names like EA Sports FC Mobile, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Monopoly Go, and Roblox. That’s in addition to the catalog of apps that the service includes.

On the Play Store, Google will make sure to keep you in the loop about the latest updates to your games. Starting today, you will find relevant YouTube videos of a few popular games in the Play Store’s Games tab and their listing pages.

Even with the abrupt end of Stadia, it’s clear that Google is still interested in gaming. The latest enhancements may not be as ambitious as cloud-based gaming, but they are improvements to the existing ecosystem. It remains to be seen if Google will be able to convince developers to distribute their PC titles within the Play ecosystem, though.