Android 12 will let users play games before they finish downloading

As part of today’s Game Developer Summit, Google announced a new feature for Android game developers that will speed up the process by almost two times when starting a game download in the Google Play store. At least for Android 12 devices, the feature will be available by the end of the month. With an eye-catching name like “play as you download,” it is fairly obvious what this new feature is all about. Players will be able to begin playing the game before all the assets have been downloaded.

In the below Google GIF, you can see how quickly you might be able to sign into a game. The difference can be felt quite clearly, and as Google noted, it is already experiencing at least twice the speed of opening games.

Play Asset Delivery is required for the feature to function. However, the developers will not have to take any action to enable the feature if they make the upgrade switch, Google says.

Android 12 also adds a host of other big changes, including a redesigned user interface. Recently, Google had also shut down plenty of apps from its Play Store that were allegedly involved in stealing Facebook data.