A number of new features are coming to the Google Play Store in the near future, but the most interesting is a new way to advertise titles on Android’s mobile game marketplace.
While Google’s new mobile game demo system may not sound exciting at first, especially given the uneventful title the company has graced the new feature with – “search trial run ads”– what it actually does could change the way we digitally shop for games on the Play Store.
Simply search for a game via Google from your Android device, then select “Try Now,” a button that displays in the search results, and a 10 minute demo of the game you’re searching for is streamed directly to your Android device.
Along with this new feature, Google is also launching a new “Indie Corner” category of its Play Store, a section that seems designed to further solve Android’s gaming marketplace discoverability issues. Since most mobile games are developed by small, independent studios, the “Indie Corner” name is strange, though it is an opportunity for Google to curate notable Android titles, separating games worth playing from the wash of other content on the operating system’s store.
Google also released a new API allowing app developers to easily add video and live streaming functionality to any game, a feature the company heavily touted last week during the Canadian launch of its YouTube Gaming app. These new announcements stem from Google’s developer day at the Game Developer Conference 2016 (GDC) in San Francisco.
What’s perhaps most interesting about these short, streamed demos, is they could be a glimpse at a future where mobile games, and even apps, could be streamed directly over an internet connection to your mobile device. Though this would use a significant amount of data, posing a problem for data-strapped Canadians. Full game streaming is also likely only possible with the connection speeds 5G connectivity provides, which isn’t predicted to launch in Canada until sometime between 2018 and 2020.
Related reading: App discovery is mobile gaming’s biggest issue
[source]Google[/source]
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