Yes, it is possible to install and play games with our Genymotion products, but there are some considerations and limitations to be taken into account.
This article will guide you to get the best result with minimal hassle.
1. Most games are only available for ARM or ARM64
This means that the result will differ depending on the product and system you use.
Genymotion Desktop
Note
To play modern Android games with Genymotion Desktop, the most compatible setup is an Apple Mac M series with the latest version of Genymotion Desktop.
PC (Windows/Linux) & old Apple Mac
Important
Some modern games are built for arm64 only ; they will not work on Genymotion Desktop for PC (Windows/Linux) and Mac with Intel x86_64 chip.
On PC (Windows/Linux) and old Apple Mac series (non M), Genymotion Desktop virtual devices architecture is x86 (32bit) and x86_64 (64bit), therefore it cannot run games compiled for ARM natively. As a result, many games will not appear or install in Google Play Store and installing them from an APK will fail.
To workaround this, you can try installing the ARM translation tools by following this tutorial from Genymotion Desktop on-line user guide. Please note, however, that the result is not guaranteed and using ARM translation is not officially supported. Use at your own risks!
Apple Mac M1 & M2
Support for the Mac M1 & M2 series has been introduced with Genymotion Desktop 3.4.0 with a native arm64 Android 10 image. This means that, if you are using a mac M1 or M2, you will not need to install any ARM translation tools: you can install your game directly from Google Play Store (see chapter 2.)!
Genymotion SaaS
Important
Some modern games are built for arm64 only ; they will not work on Genymotion SaaS, even with ARM translation tools.
Genymotion SaaS Cloud virtual devices architecture is x86 (32bit) and x86_64 (64bit): most games will not appear or install in Google Play Store and installing them from an APK will usually fail.
Like Genymotion Desktop on PC (Windows/Linux), you will need to install ARM translation tools. For detailed instructions, you can refer to Genymotion SaaS on-line use guide.
Genymotion Device Image
We offer ARM64 images on arm64/aarch64 servers which can run games for arm and arm64 natively, without the use of any ARM translation tools.
For more details, please refer to Genymotion Device image user guide
2. Google Play Store and services are not preinstalled
You need to install the Open Gapps package to get Google Play Store. We have made our best to make the installation as simple as possible: you will find all the detailed step at How to install Google Play Store (and other Google Apps) in Genymotion?
3. There are no gaming specific enhancements
Genymotion does not offer any gaming enhancement features, such as macros, keyboard mapping or Bluetooth support for controllers yet. If you wish to help us implement such features, feel free to open a discussion at our Github public discussion board.
4. Some games detect that Genymotion is an emulator
Some games, usually co-op and multi-player games, detect root and emulation which make them incompatible with Genymotion. We can not guarantee that Genymotion will work with a given game for the moment.
Note
We offer Android 10-14 images for Genymotion Device Image with dynamic root toggle. Games that won't launch on Genymotion Desktop and Genymotion SaaS may work on Genymotion Device Image with this feature.