Google announces low-spec HTML5 gaming platform called GameSnacks

Google might be failing with their attempts at bringing Cloud gaming into the mainstream with their much-maligned Stadia project, but it appears that is not the only gaming venture they have been working on. Google recently announced their new project, GameSnacks, — the latest project from its Area 120 incubator, which is aimed at low-spec phones and slow internet connections rather than the high-profile gaming stakes of Stadia.

Whereas Stadia is hoping to lure more hardcore gamers into the game streaming space, GameSnacks is aimed at the more casual gamer who perhaps doesn’t have the hardware to game effectively on. According to Google’s announcement, these games are designed to load “within a few seconds” even in network conditions as poor as 1Mbps (typical 3G speeds) and play smoothly with as little as 1GB of RAM. Since the games are entirely HTML5-based, they’ll work equally well in a web browser, on a tablet, or on a smartphone.

Given that this new platform is targeted at casual gamers the types of games that will be available are similarly the typical freemium type games you get on mobile devices where they are available free of charge, but will microtransactions are thrown in for those willing to invest in them. Think of games more akin to Bejewelled, Candy Crush or tower defence games a the pe of games this project is likely to offer. Not exactly the type of games that will excite many of us.  

It’s an interesting approach for Google given that there are so many mobile games available that already target this market and while the possibility of providing gaming to people with very slow connections and low spec phones is noble, is the market lucrative enough for them, especially with regards to getting these people to pay sufficiently as well. Hopefully, for their sake, GameSnacks has a better launch than Stadia otherwise Google has just spent a lot of money on the industry and no shown much success for it.

Last Updated: February 19, 2020