Google launches Play Games in the US and other countries for Windows 11

Opinion: No need to use Microsoft’s Store for now

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After launching abeta in 2021,Googlehas announced a further rollout of the Play Games app forWindows 11, which lets you download and play a bunch ofAndroidgames on yourtabletorPC.

While you can download Android apps through theMicrosoft Storein Windows 11 thanks toAmazon, this is another method of downloading them, but strictly for games, and arguably in a much better layout that doesn’t havejunk apps.

Google’sPlay Games appalready has some fun games you can try out right now if you’re in the US or one of the other 13 supported countries, and it makes me wonder if the company also knows just how difficult it is to siphon the good Android apps from the junk ones inMicrosoft’s Store.

Could Google be doing it alone in Windows 11 soon?

While I’vementioned it before, Microsoft’s redesigned Store in Windows 11 has a junk problem with Android apps, and there’s been no effort from both Amazon or Microsoft as yet to tackle these to improve the quality of the apps which should be useful but alongside this, genuine.

As Google is testing out its own app to let users directly download and play Android games, it’s telling. It’s telling because the agreement for Android apps in the Store is between Amazon and Microsoft, so perhaps Google wants to do this on its own, thanks to the ability touse Android apps in Windows 11.

Regardless, while Google is reportedly aiming for a 2023 release of Play Games for all users in Windows 11, I’m hoping that this could also be the start of other apps to come from Google - such as productivity apps that could be part of this app, or as its own Store app in time.

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Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he’s written a book, ‘The Making of Tomb Raider’. His second book, ‘50 Years of Boss Fights’, came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2025. He also has a newsletter called ‘Springboard’. He’s usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that’s about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.

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