Earlier today, the Google Play Games Services name and some brief information was leaked through an update from an Android game’s “What’s New” section. Today at Google I/O, Google has officially announced its Google Play Games Services and is everything we expected it to be.
One of the first features Google announced for its Google Play Games is a cloud save service which allows players to save their game onto the cloud to then pick up where they left off at a later time and on a different Android device. Google Play Games will also support achievements and a leaderboards system that will use your Google+ circles to make it possible to challenge your friends directly.
Multiplayer gaming will also be possible through Google Play Games as Google will handle peer-to-peer services (P2P) and will allow you to use Google+ to invite your friends to play directly in a game that supports multiplayer gaming sessions.
Android developers can expect to see Google Play Games Services to be rolled out later today and will support Android devices from Android 2.2 Froyo and above with some support for iOS devices as well as other “connected devices.” As of now, only a handful of Android games have Google Play Games Services incorporated into them: World of Goo, Super Stickman Golf 2, Beach Buggy Blitzh, Kingdom Rush, Eternity Warriors 2 and Osmos.
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