At its I/O conference today, Google announced a brand new service for Android gamers: Google Play game services. As rumored, the Android gaming service features a number of similar features as Apple’s Game Center, including achievements, cloud saves, matchmaking, and leaderboards. But it’s also cross-platform, so developers can implement the features not just on Android, but also across iOS and the web. “At Google, we want to make our services available to as many folks as possible,” product manager Greg Hartrell told Polygon.
Google announces Play game services, Android’s cross-platform answer to Game Center
is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.
"We want to make our services available to as many folks as possible."
The service is integrated with Google+ to power aspects like leaderboards, and aside from real-time matchmaking (which is Android only at present), all features are currently available cross-platform. A software development kit is available to developers starting today, and game services features have already been implemented in several Android titles, including World of Goo and Super Stickman Golf 2. For more details, be sure to check out our sister site Polygon.
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