Even though the quality gap between mobile games and indie PC games has narrowed in recent years, the two ecosystems remain frustratingly separated. Sure, you can use a third-party emulator like BlueStacks to play Android games on your PC, and Microsoft is working to make some (but not all) Android games playable in Windows 11, but neither are ideal solutions right now.

A better option is on the way, as a Google Play Games app for Windows PCs has been announced. Google is developing the app in-house, and it will run games locally rather than in the cloud. The ability to pause and resume a game on your phone or tablet will also be included. Greg Harrell, Google’s product director for games, had the following to say about the upcoming app…

Starting in 2022, players will be able to experience their favorite Google Play games on more devices: seamlessly switching between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and soon, Windows PCs. This Google-built product brings the best of Google Play Games to more laptops and desktops, and we are thrilled to expand our platform for players to enjoy their favorite Android games even more. […] This will be a native Windows app distributed by Google, which will support Windows 10 and up. It will not involve game streaming.

I’ll admit that I’m not a big phone or tablet gamer, but there are a few interesting-looking mobile indies that I’d like to try, so this is a great option for me. It would also save smaller developers the cost of porting their games and releasing them on Steam and other platforms.