A wide variety of games are already available for Android devices on ay, but several hints suggest the status quo may not be good enough for the search giant.

appears to be moving aggressively into gaming with several new hires, a I/O schedule packed with gaming-themed sessions. But what exactly is up to? Is the company trying to capitalize on the recent trend of turning Android into a console gaming platform such as the Ouya? Is this about having more games than iOS? Or does the company have an entirely different idea up its sleeve?

recently hired veteran game designer Noah Falstein, who has worked in the gaming industry since 1980 with companies such as casfilm Games (before it was casArts Entertainment) Dreamworks Interactive. His new title at is officially Game Designer at , according to Falstein’s nkedIn page.

As TechCrunch first reported, however, a cached version of his profile shows that Falstein originally posted his title as “ Game Designer at Android ay Studio.” That title suggests he may be working on -bred games that will head to the ay store, but that’s purely speculation at this point.

Falstein is not the only big gaming hire has made recently, has discovered. Electronic Arts veteran Frog City Software co-founder Rachel Bernstein also moved to in April. Her title? Executive oducer at Android ay Studio, based on her nkedIn profile. During her time at EA, Bernstein led the development of The Sims Medieval game MySims Agents for the i. Before that, she also created games for Xbox ve Arcade.

confirmed to that both Bernstein Falstein have joined the company, though a spokesperson declined to comment on specific work info.

Hiring two, possibly more, game development veterans, makes you wonder what is planning.

I/O

Beyond new hires, also plans a big focus on games during the company’s I/O developer conference later in May.

The schedule for developer training sessions during I/O 2013 is chock full of gaming gaming related-themes on Day 1, dnesday, May 15. Out of a total of ten Android sessions that dnesday, half are explicitly about games, as you can see in the screenshot below.

’s focus on gaming may not seem like a big deal, until you consider that I/O 2013 has more gaming sessions than both I/O 2012 I/O 2011 combined.

I/O 2012 had exactly one gaming-specific Android session. In 2011, offered two gaming-specific sessions that weren’t really about making great games for Android. I/O 2011 had one session about making your game compatible with the wide array of Android flavors then in the market, another session was about porting games to Android that were written in C C++.

at does it all mean?

It’s clear that is getting big into games by hiring veterans from the gaming industry setting a game-centric I/O schedule for Android developers, at least on day one. The question is, what is the company going to do what is the Android ay Studio?

Android is certainly taking off as a gaming platform. Not only can you find great games on ay, but new gaming consoles such as Ouya GameStick are Android-based. rhaps is trying to capitalize on this trend by creating games for these platforms? Developers still aren’t sold on Android as a gaming platform, an active role from may alleviate their concerns.

Then again, may be paving the way for virtual reality gaming other entertainment experiences with Glass. ile isn’t publicly advertising any Glass sessions during I/O yet, the new wearable technology will almost certainly be a topic of discussion during the conference—especially since a bunch of rs developers will probably be walking around wearing them during I/O.

This could also be a play to create some new kind of gaming experience. already offers Ingress, a highly innovative augmented reality game from ’s Niantic labs.

at’s exactly is up to here? expect to hear more at the I/O 2013 in a couple of weeks. will be there to keep you up to date on all the latest news trends.

‘s contributed to this report.