Chromecast Gets Autoplay, Queuing, Second Screen And Multiplayer Game Powers
without a console Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority : Autoplay, queuing, second screen and multiplayer gaming comes to the Chromecast Kyle Wiggers / Digital Trends : Chromecast is about to get a host of fun new features Christian Nutt / Gamasutra : Google updates its Cast SDK, for streaming games to TVs See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's May 2015 Cast SDK update turns the Chromecast from a passive streaming dongle into a platform for interactive TV — autoplay, queuing, second-screen control, and multiplayer games streamed from phones to the TV. The follow-on coverage shows Google committing to that direction fast: a Unity plugin for Chromecast-compatible games landed within months, and the second-gen Chromecast and Chromecast Audio shipped at the same $35 price point that fall.
The arc runs through hardware and naming too: leaked specs previewed "Fast Play" and improved Wi-Fi before the September announcement, and by early 2016 Google had rebranded the app as Google Cast while Vizio built Cast directly into its P-Series TVs — evidence the SDK was becoming an embedded TV standard rather than a dongle feature.
First-order effects
- Game developers working with the Cast SDK gain multiplayer and second-screen APIs immediately, letting phone-and-TV titles ship without any console hardware; Gamasutra's coverage frames it as Google updating the SDK specifically for streaming games to TVs.
Second-order effects
- Cheap-casting pressure moves toward TV makers — Vizio's later P-Series with built-in Cast support shows OEMs absorbing the dongle's features into sets, while the $35 Chromecast line keeps undercutting console-priced living-room gaming on casual titles.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the TV's role shifts from dumb output device to a shared screen driven by personal devices — with Google's SDK (and its developer tooling like the Unity plugin) deciding which apps reach it, an early instance of crossplay-style infrastructure where the phone is the controller and any display is the stage.
The trend: Living-room entertainment is consolidating around cast-to-TV software platforms, where Google's SDK turns cheap dongles and smart TVs alike into game-capable displays controlled from phones.