Google Stadia may soon be able to play unmodified Windows PC games

Google may soon unveil a way for game developers to get unmodified Windows games running on Stadia. According to details of an upcoming session from the Google for Games Developer Summit, the company will share its technical process for getting Windows games to run on Stadia. This could clear the way for developers to replicate the process.

Convincing developers to port titles to the Linux-based Stadia has proven difficult. As a result, some big-name titles are not available on the streaming service. Any move in the direction of allowing developers to use code from the Windows versions of games could help bolster Google’s platform.

Below are the details for the session:

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Detailed overview of the technology behind Google’s solution for running unmodified Windows games on Stadia. This is a deep technical walkthrough of some of the core concepts with the goal to allow curious programmers to better understand such technologies and potentially to build their own.

The session will run for 25 minutes and will be led by Marcin Undak from Google Stadia’s porting platform team.

The description of the session leaves room for speculation. The line “potentially to build their own” could indicate that Google has figured out a way to run unmodified Windows games on Stadia, but that it will require developers to recreate the process for specific titles. This would likely be easier than porting games to Linux.

Google isn’t the first company to get Windows games to run on Linux. Valve’s Proton is a compatibility layer that lets the best PC games run on Wine. Proton tech is also used by the Steam Deck.

The Google for Games Developer Summit is on March 15, 2022, so we won’t have to wait long to see what Google has in store.