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Google Play Instant: Try games without downloading them

Instead of having to download a game to give it a try, Google is letting you play games right in the Google Play Store. You can try a handful of games right now!
By
March 19, 2018
TL;DR
  • Google Play Instant is a new feature in the Google Play Store that lets you try games without having to download them first.
  • Google hopes this fast-access to games will help gamers find new games easily with fewer hurdles to jump through.
  • The announcement comes as the Game Developers Conference 2018 gets in full swing.

This week is the annual Game Developers Conference, which takes place in San Francisco. As usual, Google is there to talk about the Google Play Store, Android games, and how the company is working hard to make it easier for gamers to discover new games on the world’s largest app store.

At the conference today, Google announced a new service geared towards Android gamers: Google Play Instant.

When you want to try a new Android game, you must download and install the app. Once you’ve done that, you launch the game and give it a shot. If you don’t like it, you have 15 minutes (sometimes longer, depending on the app) to uninstall the app and get your money back.

But now, with Google Play Instant, you can try the game without downloading anything. Some of the titles available to try right now via Google Play Instant are Clash Royale, Words with Friends 2, and Bubble Witch 3 Saga. You can browse all the games currently available as Instant apps by visiting the brand new Instant Gameplay collection, or you can check out the new Arcade section in the redesigned Google Play Games app where the Instant Gameplay collection is highlighted.

Game developers looking to add their games to the Instant Gameplay collection are in for a bit of disappointment: the service is currently still in closed beta. If you are a game developer, you can sign up for more information about getting your app into the Instant family by filling out this interest form.

Today’s reveal comes on the back of a few other announcements Google made recently about new developments in the Android gaming world. The company opened up its Google Maps APIs to developers of AR and VR games; gave developers the ability to promote their games with playable in-game advertisements in other games already sold at the Google Play Store; and at Mobile World Congress 2018, the company announced the 1.0 version of ARCore which helps developers create amazing AR games.

Google will be at the Game Developers Conference all week, so look forward to more announcements about the state of Google Play gaming to come!