Google to include cloud gaming into its search results

It seems Google is testing for launching games from cloud streaming services (such as Google Stadia) with a single click from search results.

As spotted by The Verge, if you search for a game that's available on a streaming service, you'll get a little Play button – click on that, and the title will launch on the relevant cloud gaming platform, right inside your browser. Google does something similar with movies and TV shows in search: if there's a match on a streaming platform (like Netflix or Disney Plus), you'll see links to launch the content alongside the regular list of results.

Till now Google hasn't officially commented on this trial, so it is possibly still in the testing stage and may not be appearing for everyone. It does appear to be available on both the desktop and mobile versions of the Google homepage, for those who have it.

The Play button also appears if games are on Amazon Luna, Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming - showing that perhaps that cloud gaming is more advanced, with more platforms people are signed into, than you might have imagined.

Cloud gaming has yet to properly take off – you still need a very fast, low latency broadband connection to really make the most of it – but it's not difficult to see the appeal of being able to stream games over the web just like movies or music. As time goes on, these cloud gaming services will get more polished and better at delivering games over the web, while connection speeds (both over Wi-Fi and cellular networks) are inevitably going to improve too.