I discovered Munchkin, one in all my favourite all-time card video games, on Google Play Video games for $5.99. On Steam, it is $14.99. That is $9 I might spend on some avocado toast, so I went to obtain the title from Google.
It was unavailable, regardless of being marketed on Google Play Video games’ storefront.
That one second is indicative of my normal expertise with Google Play Video games: what they promote is not actually what you may get. Google guarantees 20,000 plus video games in its catalog (in comparison with Steam’s 120,000 – 146,000 claims) and pushes the entire “bu7y as soon as, play wherever” promise as a strategy to compete with the venerable Steam platform. So I spent a bit time making an attempt to really make the change.
I used to be fairly upset.
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Take notes, Epic Video games.
The numbers sport
It’s totally deceptive
Google advertises 200,000 video games on its foremost internet web page, however that quantity contains PC and cellular video games. There is not any official breakdown of what number of cellular video games are literally playable in your PC, both, leaving us to experiment and determine it out on our personal.
Steam has round 235,000 video games, in response to information analysts at BackLink, and so they’re all for PC (or Mac or Linux), with no concern.
The issue I discovered with Munchkin cannot be that uncommon, as Google has its personal devoted “Unavailable as a substitute of Obtain” web page, a thread for “This sport cannot be performed on this PC,” and a developer neighborhood thread particularly for “my sport shouldn’t be out there.” Heck, there’s a complete assist middle web page for NCSoft video games not being out there on PC whereas engaged on Android.
Google does have a tiered system to let you understand how nicely Play Retailer video games work on PC, with Optimized, Playable, Untested, Unsupported, and Not out there (like Munchkin). You do not construct out infrastructure like that except you understand there’s an issue.
Informal vs Core
Two totally different audiences
To be clear, Google Play Video games leans closely on free-to-play and cellular ports, like Genshin Impression, Honkai, idle video games, and match-3 titles. Steam has these, for certain, but additionally triple-A video games, indie video games, simulation titles, and area of interest cult classics. Whereas Google Play promised so as to add extra “actual” PC video games at GDC 2026, my expertise felt extra like a cellular app sport retailer than anything.
The vibe can also be very totally different. Play Video games feels extra like an app retailer than a gaming platform. Steam has spent years making their app and retailer the go-to vacation spot for PC gaming, and it exhibits.
And sure, Google Play Retailer guarantees that you may purchase as soon as, play all over the place, however that is solely going to work for video games that assist PC and have cross-save. That is possible a a lot smaller record than marketed. Steam has Steam Deck, Distant Play, and cloud saves that, whereas imperfect, do provide a broader protection of “play past the PC” titles.
My expertise making an attempt to really use it
I used to be underwhelmed
Positive, I began with a tragic Munchkin revelation, however I figured I might hold digging in to search out video games I really wished to play on my PC. I do love tower protection sport, however a fast search on Google Play turned up so many video games that regarded like cellular apps ported to PC. One sport that mentioned it was optimized for PC regarded like a clone of Kingdom Rush, a cellular sport I’ve spent loads of time with on my iPhone and iPad. And sure, I checked to see who the developer is, and it is not Ironhide Video games.
So I went on the lookout for some video games I’ve on Steam over on the Google Play Retailer. Terrafoming Mars: no go. Rust or Icarus (survival video games I play on a regular basis on Steam)? Not an opportunity. A seek for Palia, a sport that feels informal to me, turned up solutions for Genshin Impression, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Thriller, and Wuthering Waves. All first rate casual-ish video games, however not the one I wished.
So I figured I might attempt the opposite path. What video games that regarded good on Google Play Retailer weren’t on Steam. Honesty, I did not discover many. Kingdom Rush (all of the variations) is on Steam, as is Asphalt Legends. OK, effective – Conflict Royale and Conflict of Clans, Supercell’s older hit citadel protection multiplayer video games from a couple of years again, are on Google Play however not Steam. So if you wish to play these in your PC, Google Play is the way in which to do it.
What Google will get proper
And the place it must catch up
Aggressive pricing is a really actual factor. I am all the time trying out Steam Gross sales or Epic Video games Retailer for titles I need to seize however do not need to pay full value for. Dungeon Clawler, for instance, is simply $7 on Google Play Video games and $15 on Steam. If sufficient of the video games you need to play are discounted like that, you can avoid wasting actual money.
Google Play additionally has a platform-wide system for sport trials, and Steam solely has demos and one-off timed trials (like Useless Area in 2023). If that is necessary to you, together with cross-device compatibility (PC and Android not less than), Google Play may very well be the spot to go.
Nonetheless Google Play has an extended wat to go to beat out Steam. It wants a bigger curated PC library, for one, and possibly a couple of higher-end triple A titles as well. That may get the mid-tier players who use Steam to maneuver over and begin constructing their very own Play library, particularly if some value stress may be positioned upon Valve’s platform.
The decision
For informal or cellular first-players, Google Play Video games on PC can have an actual upside, with try-before-you-buy and decrease costs to tempt them throughout the aisle. For anybody whose PC gaming contains triple-A or different mid-tier video games, Steam possible already has it, so there isn’t any cause to maneuver to a Google ecosystem. Steam feels prefer it was constructed for PC players, whereas Google Play Retailer feels prefer it was made for telephone players who need to proceed their video games on a PC. Neither is improper, per se; I simply are typically within the second group, and I am betting loads of you’re as nicely.
