Google is working on a single platform to distribute games across devices like smartphones, tablets, PCs and even smart TVs.
The renaming of Android Market as Google Play could thus be viewed as the first step in this direction. In fact, Google wants this to be one store to distribute apps, games, music, movies etc for all platforms. Along with that, Google+ and Chrome Web Store will be re-branded too and will have some syndication to begin with, evolving as a single platform later.
Google+ product manager Punit Soni recently said that Google is working on a unified gaming platform and is expected to launch it by next year.
“We will not be here talking about Google+ Games, Chrome Web Store games, Games for Native Client and Android games. Instead, we will be talking about Google Games,” Soni said.
Notably, the internet giant has recently announced the availability of all Google+ games at the Chrome Web Store.
David Glazer, engineering director, Google+, also wrote in a blog, “With HTML5, WebGL, and WebRTC, the Browser has evolved into a feature-rich gaming platform. We are working closely with all browser vendors to further improve the web’s capabilities with new HTML5 APIs such as gamepad, mouse lock, and full screen.”
Clearly, Google is not just trying to have uniform branding across different stores, but rather one platform with games and apps meant for tablets, mobiles, PCs, and TVs.
Google services like Gmail, Maps etc are already integrated with Android and this is one of the biggest plus points of Android operating system. If this new Google platform plays out as expected, it will make Google’s services all the more compelling for gaming, computing, social networking and sharing.