Google Play game services offers cross-platform support on iOS, Android and Web

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Google's response to Apple's Game Center was announced on Wednesday in the form of Google Play game services, a cross-platform series of developer tools that will support iOS as well as Android and the Web.

Google Play game services


Google Play game services are a new family of application programming interfaces the company will make available to developers today. With the APIs, developers will be able to allow gamers to pick up where they left off in a title, no matter what device they're playing on.

For example, a player's progression and game state achieved while playing on an Android tablet could be synced in the cloud, allowing that player to pick up where they left off when accessing the same title on their iPhone.

The new game services tools for Google Play include cloud saves, much like Apple's iCloud allows developers to save and sync data remotely.

The APIs also offer achievements and leaderboards, much like Apple's Game Center. And Google will also integrate those features with its Google+ social networking service, giving gamers another way to compare their progress with friends.

Using Google+ circles, gamers on Android, iOS and the Web will also be able to find their friends and invite them to play against one another in cross-platform online multiplayer sessions.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member


    So is AI going to have a separate article for every single Google I/O announcement?

  • Reply 2 of 22
    rcoleman1rcoleman1 Posts: 153member
    Isn't this supposed to be "Apple" Insider?
  • Reply 3 of 22
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member


    Google is eating Apple's lunch.


     


    Apple seems in a paralysis.


     


    This is really awesome of Google.


     


    I'm using almost exclusively Google apps. Chrome on OS X and iOS. Almost all of Google's apps on iOS. Safari is terrible compared to Chrome. I just wish I could make Chrome my default iOS app.


     


    What is Apple doing? Mac Pro? Their apps on OS X are getting poor reviews. Maps...


     


    I will probably always use Apple products, but it seems like someone at the top is not looking at the portfolio and seeing what they have and not looking at reviews of their products.


     


    Someone said that Apple is fast if you are going in reverse (former employee), but they seem to be going even "faster".


     


    Patrick

     

  • Reply 4 of 22
    jakebjakeb Posts: 562member
    Seems very relevant. Apple's game center never got much traction, so Google offering a platform that works on both iOS and Android is interesting.
  • Reply 5 of 22
    jdnc123jdnc123 Posts: 233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pfisher View Post


    Google is eating Apple's lunch.


     


    Apple seems in a paralysis.


     


    This is really awesome of Google.


     


    I'm using almost exclusively Google apps. Chrome on OS X and iOS. Almost all of Google's apps on iOS. Safari is terrible compared to Chrome. I just wish I could make Chrome my default iOS app.


     


    What is Apple doing? Mac Pro? Their apps on OS X are getting poor reviews. Maps...


     


    I will probably always use Apple products, but it seems like someone at the top is not looking at the portfolio and seeing what they have and not looking at reviews of their products.


     


    Someone said that Apple is fast if you are going in reverse (former employee), but they seem to be going even "faster".


     


    Patrick

     



     


     


    >>Apple seems in paralysis>>


     


    Understatement to say the least.  70,000+ employees, all the cash and resources anyone could ever wish for and they are just getting their butts kicked lately and seemingly have no ability or desire to react.  My hunch is they want whatever they are working on 'perfect' before it is released, but the market will demolish the stock if they roll out incremental improvements to the current lineup.  Everyone here needs to come to grips with reality, as does management.  A LOT of people want a large screen iPhone.  Apple needs to swallow its pride and follow Samsung's lead and offer one.  More and more you are seeing people watching movies, playing games on the larger phones.  Just returned from Vegas where I swear every Asian person seemed to have a Samsung large screen phone.  Despite this trend being well over a year old, there are no signs Apple cares to give its customers what they want.  They will alienate customers with the arrogance they are showing.  If plummeting earnings don't wake them up, one has to wonder what will.  The level of incompetence and mismanagement is amazing.  Did Forstall's guidance really set back iOS in such a fashion that its going to take a couple years to fix the damage he caused?


     


    Apple -20% ytd vs S&P +16% vs Google +28% vs Samsung -1.5%


     


    Enterprise value:  Apple $256 billion, Google $254 billion.  Apple drops another $2 or Goog rises another $8 or a combination of both and Google become the king of the tech hill.  This is no short collusion, this isn't because Samsung has people on message boards knocking Apple.  Investors have lost confidence in Tim Cook and don't believe the recent earnings weakness can be reversed.  Buyside analyst believe gross margins are headed below 30%.  More than 60% of the largest holders of the stock as of 12/31 have been selling.  Long-term supporters of this company are exiting in droves.  Capital Group sold 7.8 million shares in the quarter as the stock dropped like a rock, more than half its position, Welington, Invesco, JP Morgan, Fidelity are all dumping the stock like crazy.  Sell-off's aren't seen as a buying opportunity in this name any longer.  Investors are jumping ship as quick as possible and there simply isn't enough people that want to buy the stock right now and for good reason, nobody knows if Tim Cook is capable of righting the ship.

  • Reply 6 of 22
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jakeb View Post



    Seems very relevant. Apple's game center never got much traction, so Google offering a platform that works on both iOS and Android is interesting.


     


    Not much traction? You're joking, right?


     


    But yes, cross platform Game Centre would be great if Apple provided it. Like cross platform iMessage; a personal dream of mine.

  • Reply 7 of 22
    starbird73starbird73 Posts: 538member
    Have to say, if you look at Apple's strength? Hardware? Apple still rules. Yeah, I know, they don't have every screen size available, etc. but if they really were irrelevant? Or soon to be? Google, BlackBerry and Microsoft would be ignoring them.

    Only Apple/iPhone literally has every service.
  • Reply 8 of 22
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Can we please quit posting this enterprise value crap. The metric that is most widely used is market cap. And Apple's is > Google's.
  • Reply 9 of 22
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    rcoleman1 wrote: »
    Isn't this supposed to be "Apple" Insider?

    Supposed to be. But really it's 'anything and everything that we think might get us page hits even if it hasnothingto do with Apple or even tech' insider
  • Reply 10 of 22
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    starbird73 wrote: »
    Have to say, if you look at Apple's strength? Hardware? Apple still rules. Yeah, I know, they don't have every screen size available, etc. but if they really were irrelevant? Or soon to be? Google, BlackBerry and Microsoft would be ignoring them.

    Only Apple/iPhone literally has every service.
    Yeah amazing isn't it? BUT doesn't really sync up with Tim Cook saying Apple isn't a hardware company. Because right now that is their biggest strength.
  • Reply 11 of 22
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    jakeb wrote: »
    Seems very relevant. Apple's game center never got much traction, so Google offering a platform that works on both iOS and Android is interesting.

    Any lack of traction is because, like using IAP v making a second app, Apple didn't make it required.

    This has the same issue. Just cause folks can put it in their games doesn't mean they will.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    jdnc123jdnc123 Posts: 233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    Can we please quit posting this enterprise value crap. The metric that is most widely used is market cap. And Apple's is > Google's.


     


    If you buy a company, you pay the enterprise value, not the market cap.  If someone wanted to buy the entire company, they pay EV.  That IS what the company is worth whether you care to believe or understand it.  Is a company that is capitalized with $50 million of equity and $50 million of debt worth less than a company with $100 million market cap and no debt?  Of course not, they are worth they same.  Analysts value companies based on earnings/EPS or as multiples of EV, such as EV/EBITDA, EV/Sales, EV/EBIT, etc.  Find me one story, one article, one analyst who has ever used a valuation metric using market cap. alone to value a company and I'll stop.  I can virtually guarantee that you won't find one.  Sure, uneducated investors look at just the market cap.  Anyone that knows anything about finance doesn't.


     


    Apple down 4+%.


     


    I'll stick with my prediction from a month or so ago, Tim Cook is gone in a year.  Employees have to be looking to leave in droves and beside themselves that this company could screw up so damn quickly.  I mean we are only weeks away from WWDC and nobody cares, nobody has any confidence Apple can do anything positive.  That is on Cook.


     


    $1 lower and Google is worth more than Apple.  Period, end of story.  A $200+ billion swing in an incredibly short timeframe.  Sure, that has nothing to do with Apple or management!

  • Reply 13 of 22

    Quote:


     I mean we are only weeks away from WWDC and nobody cares



     


    I had to create an account just to respond to this idiocy.


     


    Really, nobody cares?


     


    WWDC2013 sells out in 2 minutes verses 2 hours last year.  I'm sorry dude, but you lost all credibility you had with that post.

  • Reply 14 of 22
    jdnc123jdnc123 Posts: 233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ursadorable View Post


     


    I had to create an account just to respond to this idiocy.


     


    Really, nobody cares?


     


    WWDC2013 sells out in 2 minutes verses 2 hours last year.  I'm sorry dude, but you lost all credibility you had with that post.



    no investors care

  • Reply 15 of 22
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    It pains me to write this, but I'm glad Google support Apple with nearly all their apps and services. because the way Apple is falling behind on such things, these Google products may end up being a lifeline to Apple hardware and the main reason people continue to purchase the company's products until it loses relevance all together or is forced to produce hardware running Android! This prolonged product silence from Apple over the last 6 months or so has been quite disastrous I think and a mistake on their part. Google/Samsung are seemingly speeding ahead of Apple (especially Google with its cross-platform support, a distinct advantage they will always have over Apple, unless Apple decide to go cross-platform too)...please get your act together pronto!

    The WWDC next month needs to be something very-very special indeed! An example - where I live most people with smartphones and tablets used to use Apple products, nowadays though it seems most of those people have upgraded to or are using Samsung products instead - that's not a good sign! The Apple store upstairs in the mall is mostly empty now, while the Samsung store exactly opposite across the hall always seems to have a decent amount of people checking it out - another bad sign!

    I don't want this situation to continue!!!
  • Reply 16 of 22

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 1983 View Post



    I'm glad Google support Apple with nearly all their apps and services


     


    Of course Google will.  They're not stupid, where do you think they make their money?  They sure as hell don't make it from Android which they give away for free. They make their money from selling GoogleApps services to businesses, and selling you to advertisers.  They will do whatever is necessary to reach the largest target audience possible.  Unlike Apple and Microsoft, Google doesn't care what platform (Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android) you use, as long as you use their services.

  • Reply 17 of 22
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 1983 View Post



    It pains me to write this, but I'm glad Google support Apple with nearly all their apps and services. because the way Apple is falling behind on such things, these Google products may end up being a lifeline to Apple hardware and the main reason people continue to purchase the company's products until it loses relevance all together or is forced to produce hardware running Android! This prolonged product silence from Apple over the last 6 months or so has been quite disastrous I think and a mistake on their part. Google/Samsung are seemingly speeding ahead of Apple (especially Google with its cross-platform support, a distinct advantage they will always have over Apple, unless Apple decide to go cross-platform too)...please get your act together pronto!



    The WWDC next month needs to be something very-very special indeed! An example - where I live most people with smartphones and tablets used to use Apple products, nowadays though it seems most of those people have upgraded to or are using Samsung products instead - that's not a good sign! The Apple store upstairs in the mall is mostly empty now, while the Samsung store exactly opposite across the hall always seems to have a decent amount of people checking it out - another bad sign!



    I don't want this situation to continue!!!




    You read my mind.


     


    Wow, Apple store empty and Samsung store not. Apple is not as fast as they need to be. I look to Apple and Amazon for the cool, neat products with buzz. And I've always been a big Apple fan since 1980.

  • Reply 18 of 22
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,833member
    Google invading apple again, I still like Game Center however.
  • Reply 19 of 22
    cyniccynic Posts: 124member


    Well, a lot has been said here and I'd like to respond to a few things because I don't really see and understand this state of panic.


     


    For one, regarding this whole being forced to Android thing: I have yet to see an Android phone that can scroll something as simple as the Settings App smoothly.


     


    Regarding this whole Game Center competitor, let's not forget that Google does a lot of experimentation and while being able to save state in the Cloud and have a unified way for Achievements and Leaderboards, let's not forget that Game Center is so much more from a developer's perspective.


     


    It gives you fantastic APIs for turn based or real time multiplayer, based on various P2P or P2P and mixed server architectures. All of this service is given to you for free, most small devs will not require to host any game servers whatsoever. It also spares them to actually get down to the nitty gritty of low level network programming, sockets and whatnot. It gives you real time voice chat capabilities, again without any servers whatsoever. It also gives you matchmaking, queue estimation and many, many other things.


     


    All in All, Game Center is a fantastic set of APIs and consists of much more than most users see. It enables developers to produce great results easily and quickly without requiring any kind of investment into own architecture. This is a huge deal and goes far beyond save games in the cloud.


     


    As so often, we will have to see how Google plays this, however from experience I am quite confident when I say that Google's implementations generally lack from an API perspective. This goes across all Android APIs and when you know iOS counterparts the amount of lacking features you have to implement yourself, the general extremely "manual" feel of Google's APIs is just mind boggling. This is also very curious because Google does experiment a lot, change a lot, invents new stuff with its APIs which is arguably even useful, however still recommends developers to follow rather than actually improving its APIs.


     


    My bottom line is: While this is something that has been lacking on Android, let's not forget that there is so much more to Game Center than that green felt app with leader boards. It's a comprehensive set of APIs that actually enable indie devs to produce the kind of multiplayer games we have on iOS now.


     


    On a side note, it remains to be seen how widely this is going to be adopted. Android devs are certainly going to be happy with it. However, from what I could read about this already, neither voice chat nor real time multiplayer will be supported on iOS or on the web. Meaning, there is little cross platform to it, despite achievements and save games. I'm not even getting into the discussion of how frequent the use case of having an iOS phone but an Android tablet actually is. Since multiplayer gaming itself however won't be cross platform, developers without own infrastructure will still need to leverage both APIs on their respective platforms.

  • Reply 20 of 22
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by jdnc123 View Post

    [all posts]


     


    Shut up and go away.

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