Google Play Games Services Dropping Support for iOS

google-play-games-e1453739729404

Google Play Games Services (GPGS) has long supported iOS with game analytics tools and social multi-player features. But Google Play Games Services will no longer support iOS due to low usage, and will also be removing some features like Gifts, Requests, and Quests on Android. Gaming has become a massive source of revenue for both Apple and Google, with some of the most popular titles earning millions of pounds every day. New signups for the iOS version of the service had already been disabled back in December of 2016, but Google is now going whole hog and ending support for the iOS version of the SDK and all related features. The end of iOS support means developers will no longer be able to implement features from Google Play Games Services, and there never was an official, all-in-one Google Play Games app for iOS, which means that the service has pulled out of the platform completely.

Removing iOS support means developers will not be able to use features from Play Games Services for iOS games. The Native SDK release (2.3) will not support integration with iOS anymore and Google will not be offering any support or update for the iOS SDK. Google says this is so that it can continue to focus its efforts to its other more popular features in gaming, including: Sign-in, Achievements, Leaderboards, and Multiplayer. The company hopes to focus on making their existing offerings more useful. Besides, Google also states that it will remain commited towards the development of Play Games. With recent integration of Firebase Analytics and its support for Unity and C++, the company confirms its future plans for the platform.

Removal of the Google Play Game Service from iOS might not affect a large chunk of Apple users as the platform already has its own Game Centre that carries the same functionality. Google plans to completely deactivate the aforementioned in-game features by April 2018. Google is providing a 12-month window (April 2017- April 2018) to the developers who use the above-mentioned features so that they can plan for the removal. 

Image copyright by 9to5google.com

Leave a Reply

Name : *
Email : *
Website :
Comment :
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*