Google just made Android gaming much more immersive – free update is a literal game-changer

Play Games Sidekick is a companion overlay that can bring more information about the Android game you're playing with AI-powered tips, while providing options for capture and sharing while you're gaming.

The expansion of Play Games with the new Sidekick feature has just started, with Google inviting developers to give it a try, while it's already available for more than 90 games, including familiar titles like Subnautica and Hitman: Absolution.

The panel will be accessible by dragging it over the game you're playing, a little like existing game toolbars that some phone manufacturers offer. In this case, while it offers some hardware control like being able to turn on Do Not Disturb, most of the focus will be on other Play Games and developer features.

One of the things that stock Android lacks is a decent gaming toolbar – there's no native way to easily change things like phone performance, display brightness and so on, but that's not the core focus of what Sidekick offers at the moment.

While the streaming options will be useful for some gamers, a look at Google's developer notes reveals that the brand sees it for "user retention, increased monetisation, rewarding gameplay and deeper engagement" – all things that should encourage developers to work with it.

Much of this comes back to Google's attempt to build Play Games as a gaming destination of choice, offering a full range of achievements and Play Points as an incentive to gamers.

In reality, some of that stuff might just become feature clutter when you open Sidekick to find something specific about the game that you're interested in.

The Game Tips section – which will offer AI-powered hints – could be really useful, with the idea being that you don't need to fire up Google to get help, it will just be a swipe away. There's also going to be the option to have Gemini Live in games, which could be much more interactive that current static game tips.

Both of these latter options sound like an evolution of the promised Google Assistant integration into Stadia, Google's ill-fated game streaming service that was shuttered in 2023.

These are early days for Sidekick and it's just getting rolling. I'd like to see more device controls included, but while wait, I'm going to head off into Subnautica and see whether Gemini can guide me with some useful tips.