With Google Play Games on PC, your users transition seamlessly between:
- To play your game on their mobile device
- To play on their PC
If you also support other device types, such as Chromebooks or Android tablets, your user may be playing across even more surfaces. This topic introduces the continuity requirements for Google Play Games on PC.
Resetting game progress each time they play on a new device is a poor experience for your users, typically their intention is to continue playing your game, regardless of which surface they're on. Additionally, having to login separately on each new surface creates a significant pain point which can lead users to abandon your game. Users want to be immersed into the game experience as soon as possible with minimal roadblocks.
Give your users the best experience possible by implementing the Google Play Games on PC continuity requirements. This is powered by Google Play Games Services Sign In. This is to assure them that they can restore their credentials on a new Play surface. This lets them continue with their game, all without the need to enter a username or password, so that they can jump into the experience as quickly and seamlessly as possible.
At a high level, there are 2 components that make up this requirement, so that we can ensure seamless continuity across surfaces for the user:
- Save game data and progress in the cloud: Your game must be able to restore the user's game state between their Android mobile device and PC, at a minimum. This optionally spans across any surface your game supports.
- Provide a zero-touch login experience across surfaces: To create a zero-touch experience, leverage Google Play Games Services (PGS) v2. This uses the user's Google account to bring their game credentials from their mobile device to PC. With our new Google Play Games Services v2 SDK, which is a requirement for Google Play Games on PC, integration is easier than before and users have a seamless experience when signing in with your game.
Continuity requirements
- When possible, players on mobile (Android) and Google Play Games on PC are automatically signed in to Google Play Games Services. Their non-tutorial progress is linked to their Google Play Games Services Player ID. On other devices, the game automatically restores this progress when there are no conflicts with the local state.
- Please note that the user may be automatically signed into your game with Google Play Games Services, but not sign in with your existing identity system for example, guest accounts. In these cases, given the user is logged in with Google Play Games Services and has the expectation that their progress is being saved, you still must backup and restore the user’s progress. The only exception is when the user specifically understands that the guest mode is tied to a single device.
- To satisfy this requirement, Google Play Games Services v2 Sign-in must be used. If you’re currently using v1 Sign-in, we have guidance for:
- If your game has other Identity solutions, link the Google Play Games Services Player ID to these solutions so that players don’t have to restore their credentials manually when using a new device.
- When there are conflicts on progress, such as when a player signs in with Google Play Games Services and another identity platform, you should resolve it in a way your players can expect and understand. This could be asking the player which account they want to play with, preferring the local progress, or merging the progress.