Google is once again tweaking the Play Store—this time around the Games tab, where people usually just want to get to a genre and move on. According to Misryoum newsroom reporting, Google is testing a redesigned layout that makes genre hopping feel a bit less like a chore.
Right now, the Games tab has a fairly rigid top navigation setup, with options including For You, Top charts, Other devices, and Kids shortcuts. What it doesn’t really do is help you jump straight into something specific—like Simulation or Puzzle—without digging. Misryoum newsroom reported that the new test appears to tackle exactly that, by adding a genre shortcut list built into the Games section.
In the updated UI, the big change is the introduction of Material-like “bubbles” that you can scroll through. The bubbles are designed to direct users to categories such as Simulation, Puzzle, Life, and other game genres. Misryoum newsroom reporting also notes these same options already exist in the current Categories tab—so this is less about inventing new content and more about making it harder to miss. And yeah, the difference is subtle until you try it—like when you’re staring at the screen for that exact moment where you’re thinking, “Wait, where is the genre list again?”
Misryoum newsroom reporting says these bubbles are showing up not just in the Games tab, but also in the Top Charts tab. In fact, it’s replacing the Categories dropdown there, which has historically been a little too easy to overlook and, when you do find it, kind of overwhelming. The idea seems pretty straightforward: keep the genre shortcuts visible alongside Top Charts so you don’t have to tap into a dropdown and wade through a long list.
For anyone who’s ever forgotten the Categories dropdown exists—guilty—this could be a real quality-of-life improvement. Misryoum analysis indicates that placing genres into horizontally scrollable boxes could reduce friction for gamers who already know what they want. It’s the kind of change that might not look dramatic in screenshots, but in daily use it could save those small, repeated steps.
What’s less clear is how Google will treat the legacy tabs—Kids, Other devices, and Premium. Misryoum newsroom reporting suggests they look like they’ve been removed from the new UI during the test, though it also seems unlikely they’ll be completely ditched. There’s a chance the experiment is only rearranging where those options live, not removing them outright.
As always with these kinds of UI experiments, there’s no guarantee everything makes it to a public release. Misryoum editorial desk noted that an APK teardown approach is used to predict features that may arrive on a service based on work-in-progress code—and even then, predicted features might not end up shipping. For now, it’s another sign Google is still treating the Play Store as a living interface, constantly nudging how people find apps and games. And honestly, that’s probably for the best—even if you just want to get back to playing.
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