The company BlueStacks, known as the author of the eponymous Android emulator for PC, is preparing a small revolution. She is going to release a set of tools that will allow you to quickly port Android games for release on PC.
What is BlueStacks Inside?
The novelty is called BlueStacks Inside. According to the developers, integrating its SDK into the game code will be enough to turn a mobile game into a native (or rather, it looks like this) desktop program.
Most likely, we are talking about a kind of wrapper, which, apparently, is based on the company’s emulator. Recall that the latter allows you to download and run Android gaming applications internally on personal computers.
What can the new SDK do?
BlueStacks Inside offers out-of-the-box integration with standard Steam features (communities, curators, collections, special promotions).
In addition, the authors of mobile games will not have to change or adapt the monetization themselves: “All in-game payments will be made through the Steam wallet, as in the case of standard placement in the store.”
Nuance: ported games can support not only the standard, but the entire functionality of Steam. This will depend on the “degree of SDK integration”.
What will the publication of a ported game on Steam look like?
As usual. The author of the game takes his mobile game, embeds a new SDK into it, then publishes it on Steam (or BlueStacks does it for the developer). Then all payments go through the Steam wallet.
Payments look standard: the user opens a store in the game, clicks on the position he is interested in. Then the Steam Transaction window appears, after which the payment is made. If the user has no money in his wallet, he is invited to deposit it in any convenient way.
BlueStacks is going to earn a percentage of the income from in-game purchases and further commission for integration. As of today, neither the amount of the percentage nor the amount of the commission is known.
What will working with the ported game look like for the user?
The SDK developer places special emphasis in his presentation on the fact that the game ported using BlueStacks Inside “does not have a single indicator that the game is not native.”
It is still difficult to assess this in practice. The only project that has been officially adapted in this way — Pirates Outlaws — will be available for download and launch only two months later, on August 6.
According to the video that BlueStacks shared with the editors (it shows how the game is downloaded and played), it is really difficult to determine whether the game is native or “wrapped” using Inside. Nothing directly testifies to this.
What’s next?
BlueStacks Inside is currently at the soft launch/early access stage.
There is no exact release date for the service. However, the developers note that until the service is released, no integration fee will be charged.
The situation with partners is also not completely clear. On the one hand, BlueStacks mentions Netmarble (Lineage 2: Revolution) and KOG Games (Dungeon Fighter Online) in a press release. On the other hand, there is no information about which projects they are going to port using the SDK.
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