Volkswagen Wants to Be Fun So It's Adding Games to Its Vehicles (in Europe)
Volkswagen is partnering with the AirConsole gaming service to bring a select number of games to its vehicles in several European countries this fall.
offers casual games across categories like racing, board, card, sports, and trivia on browsers, TV boxes, and cars. That vehicle lineup will now include Volkswagen's , the new Tourer, as well as the ID.5, ID.4, and ID.3 with ID. software 4.0 or newer. VW will also bring AirConsole to its new Passat, Tiguan, Golf, and Golf Estate.
The first available games will be GoKartGo! Air, Ludo, Tumblestone, Trivia Crack, fARTwork, FriendsQuiz, and Golazo!. They'll be included at no additional cost as part of VW Connect Plus.
At launch, AirConsole for VW vehicles will be available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, and Great Britain. A larger rollout to more European countries is expected toward the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. It's unclear whether the company will bring the games to its US drivers.
For safety, games will only be playable while the vehicle is parked. The AirConsole platform supports multiple people so a car full of passengers can all play together. To connect to a game, anyone in the car will be able to scan an on-screen QR code with their phone to turn their device into a game controller.
AirConsole launched its first car partnership with the BMW Group for the in 2023.
While more electric vehicles are adding entertainment options to keep drivers occupied while charging, Volkswagen still has a ways to go to . Elon Musk's EV company offers tens of casual games as well as some more graphically intense ones on its highest-end models with more capable hardware. Tesla owners can connect Xbox console controllers, for example, to play games like Fallout Shelter.
Beyond gaming, Tesla offers other toybox capabilities like a crackling on-screen fireplace and a music-creation app. Rivian recently launched a native Apple Music app as part of its Connect+ subscription, but no games have been announced as of yet.
