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[Eddie-Griffin]

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/google-search-cloud-gaming/

Google Search’s newest feature lets players launch games straight from search results. On desktop and mobile, the “Play Now” option will appear for games that are on a supported cloud gaming service.

Through our own testing today, this option was showing up for games like Halo Infinite that are on Xbox Game Pass, as well as titles like Control: Ultimate Edition that are only on Amazon Luna. If a game happens to be on both, like Windjammers 2, then the option to play the game on either service will show up.

On desktop, the Play Now section appears right under the game title and featured images on the right side of the search results. On mobile, we had to scroll past the People also ask section. multiple search results, and the People also search for section to find the Play Now option. Clicking on it brought us to each game’s Xbox Game Pass or Amazon Luna page, from which we could boot the game and start playing.

It is a bit of an awkward addition, considering it’s releasing a little too late to benefit Google’s proprietary cloud gaming service. While previous tests for this feature included Google Stadia, that service did not show up for us during our own testing with Stadia-supported games like Doom Eternal. That’s likely because Google announced that it plans to shut Stadia down in January 2023. That is a shame, because a feature like this really would’ve brought a lot more attention to the struggling cloud gaming platform. Although it’s not going to attract people to Google’s own cloud gaming service, it’s still a helpful addition for those searching for games that are included in the Xbox Game Pass or Amazon Luna subscriptions.

According to Google, this feature should now be available to everyone using Google Search on desktop or mobile in the United States.

You now have an option to launch into the game or games you are searching about right from search if you are using any relevant Cloud Gaming Service such as Game Pass or Geforce Now. Looking at the tweet it's US only for PC and mobile.

On paper if you are interested in Cloud Gaming, this seems like a good idea. Though I'm wondering if this is another short-lived experiment. As said in the article the testing phase of this feature included Stadia which isn't included anymore and is about to be buried next month, so it looks like this appears to be left overs.

It does seem like a quick and convenient way to launch into games or possibly by them if you become interested in a title, on the surface.

If you use cloud gaming give this a try, it's apparently available now, and comment below on how it works and your experience.

 

[sigmaZ]

Oh nice. How about Stadia games?

 

[ManaByte]

Bing has been doing this for a long time with Game Pass.

 

[Agent X]

It would be great if Sony would enable the ability to play PlayStation Plus Premium streaming games through a Web browser like so many of their competitors do. I believe this is the primary reason why so much of the media continue to snub and ignore this service, even though it surpasses just about all the others in terms of having a superior selection of games at a good price point. Fencing the whole thing off behind a custom application limits visibility and accesibility, and prevents cool concepts like this Google game search feature from working.

 

[K' Dash]

US only… I see they keep ignoring the markets where their consoles cost $1000+

Where I live most people have great internet speed with no caps and actually pretty cheap, but not $1000 to spend on a console.

 

[Puscifer]

Oh nice. How about Stadia games?

Kind of amazing how they literally screwed the pooch with Stadia enough that this could've been a selling point.

 

[pasterpl]

It is on bing for long time now (used it multiple times) and it is not only USA limited.

 

[anthony2690]

US only… I see they keep ignoring the markets where their consoles cost $1000+

Where I live most people have great internet speed with no caps and actually pretty cheap, but not $1000 to spend on a console.

What Google console costs over $1000?

This is Google doing this.

Stadia is dead.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Already imagining accessing my Steam library from my iPhone through the web, the shit has to happen.

 

[Gamerguy84]

Wow pretty good move by Google. Simple
and effective.

 

[Ozriel]

even though it surpasses just about all the others in terms of having a superior selection of games at a good price point.

Perhaps, if you only want to play last gen and retro games.

US only… I see they keep ignoring the markets where their consoles cost $1000+

Where I live most people have great internet speed with no caps and actually pretty cheap, but not $1000 to spend on a console.

Which Google console costs $1000 +?

 

[Valedix]

Wasn't this the whole point of Google Stadia lol

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Already imagining accessing my Steam library from my iPhone through the web, the shit has to happen.

I doubt Apple would allow that though.

 

[Topher]

I doubt Apple would allow that though.

They haven't blocked Microsoft from doing that yet.

 

[SomeGit]

I doubt Apple would allow that though.

They can’t block it from the web, unless they do something monumentally stupid like breaking controller support in Safari.