Google has provided an official solution for users who cannot run the Play Games for PC beta on their devices. The company had previously lowered the minimum system requirements for the beta program, but some users were still unable to access it.
In August 2021, Google introduced support for integrated GPUs, such as the Intel UHD Graphics 630, after previously requiring a gaming-ready GPU from AMD or Nvidia. The company also lowered the processor requirement from “8 logical cores” to “4 CPU physical cores,” and reduced the storage requirement from 20GB to 10GB of SSD space.
Despite these changes, some users still needed help accessing the beta program on their devices. In a statement, Google acknowledged this issue and said, “we are looking into how we can reduce our minimum specs soon.”
To provide a temporary solution, Google has officially offered a workaround for accessing the Play Games for PC beta on unsupported devices. The workaround involves disabling the compatibility check by following these steps:
- Within the Windows search box, type in “environment variables”.
- Hit “edit environment variables for your account”.
- Under “user variables”, click on “New…”.
- Set the Variable name to “GOOGLE_PLAY_GAMES_SUPPRESS_COMPATIBILITY_CHECK”.
- Set the variable value as “true”.
- Click OK, then close all windows.
- If Google Play Games is running in the tray icon, close it by clicking it and restart it. If not, you can continue by selecting Google Play Games in the Start menu.
However, it is important to note that Google cautions that using this workaround may result in poor performance or games not running at all. The company is also working on known issues, such as the “Setting up…” download not finishing error message and “Google Play Games PC application is stuck on a black screen.”
Google also mentioned that it is committed to further reducing the minimum spec requirements for the Play Games for PC beta in the future. Still, in the meantime, this workaround will allow users with unsupported devices to access the program.
