Valve is welcoming a new group of game devs to its gargantuan PC marketplace: Android developers.
Valve revealed the news in an interview with The Verge, where engineer Jeremy Selan explained that the company’s preference is that players “don’t even have to think about” what device hosts the game they want to play. “They can just have their titles on Steam, they download them and hit play.”
This news isn’t just big for mobile hits like Monopoly Go or Royal Match. For years, virtual reality developers have been making games using the Android-based APK for the Meta Quest. That means developers focusing on the Quest can quickly port their games back to Steam to be ready on day one for the release of the newly-announced Steam Frame.
“They’re really VR developers who want to publish their VR content, and they’re porting a mobile VR title where they’re already familiar with how to make those APKs,” said Selan.
This move could have huge implications for Google, which operates the Google Play Store, the most commonly-used store on Android devices. It’s currently trying to settle Epic’s successful lawsuit with policies that would open up Android phones and tablets to other app stores and lower developer fees.