What Google Should Do With Its Gaming Platform

We don't typically think of Google as a gaming company, but it might actually be the largest and most prolific. Android is not only the platform with the most games but the most players as well. Really, this is a byproduct of mobile dominance and people's love of gaming rather than an actual strategy on Google's part. But, that doesn't mean that the search giant can't take advantage of its unintended market dominance and make something really special. I've got a few suggestions.

1. Keep doing the good stuff. The Indie Corner, Editor's choice, and Premium Highlights all serve to help exceptional games rise to the surface and get noticed. Platform support like this is necessary for improving the quality of games on the store. I also appreciate Google's efforts with its Play Games app. Its focus on the games library is spot on.
2. Learn from Steam. Clearly, Valve is doing something right with its PC gaming platform, Steam. There are two things in particular that I think Google should cop wholesale if possible. First, Steam’s binary recommendation system. On Steam, players don't review games on a scale of 5 stars; they either recommend them or they don't. Thumbs up or thumbs down. This clarity avoids the subjectivity of the star system and provides a more accurate view of the game's quality. Overall results could still be aggregated and would remain useful for gauging the game’s reception. Second, Google needs to lift Steam's tagging system. Categories are great, but by filtering with multiple tags, you can really zero in on a particular kind of game. This kind of thing faintly present within the Play Games app, but more granular organization is needed in Google’s flooded store.
3. Put better categories in the store. The categories themselves also need modification. Right now there is no multiplayer category. There is no category for controller support. To me, these are huge oversights. Some of these things could be incorporated as tags, but they need to be present and visible either way.
4. Create a controller standard. In my mind, there’s no reason why a phone shouldn’t be able to do what the Nintendo Switch does. Sure, the graphics components aren’t fully there yet, but the controls are really what's holding phones back. Hardly anyone has a gamepad for their phone, and attempts by the likes of Motorola to produce one with mass appeal have proven unsuccessful for a number of reasons. However, this initiative could work if it came from Google. Much like what it did with the Daydream standard for VR, Google could develop a controller standard for phones. With the emergence of USB type C (the universal connector) and gaming companies like Razer making smartphones, the time is ripe for such a move. Developers like Sega who keep dumping their classics onto mobile without proper controller support would suddenly find a reason to handle their ports with more care. Also, this shift would necessitate an entirely new section of the store to highlight titles made to be played with a controller.

Admittedly, all this would entail a lot of work on Google’s part. The Play Store has come a long way from the days of the Android Market, and its evolution has been slow and iterative. These are the changes I would like to see, but in the future, something radically different will probably occur, for better or for worse.