Category: Google Play Games

Google Play Games, the game hub for Android devices, has a new update rolling out to the Play Store today that brings a new game as well as a new search functionality to help you find games to play.  The new update is version 5.10 for those keeping score at home.  It has been released by Google to the store but it may take a day or two to get to everyone.

The first new bit in this update to Google Play Games is the classic game Snake.  Like you use to play it in the pre-smartphone days, Snake allows you to use swipe actions to move the snake around the screen to eat the apples without crashing into the walls.

Google has rolled out six games as part of their Instant Apps initiative.  The games – Clash Royale, Words With Friends 2, Solitaire, Bubble Witch Saga 3, Mighty Battles, and Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire – can be found in the Google Play Games app on your Android phone.

The idea behind Instant Apps is to give you an opportunity to try out a game or app without having to actually download it to your phone.  You get a limited demo version of the game that loads right in the Play Games app and if you like what you see, you can download the full app.

The Google Play Games app for Android has an update rolling out that brings a fresh look to the gaming hub and a much improved way of finding your games that you have installed or have purchased/played in the past.  The new build is version 5.3 for those keeping score at home (pardon the pun) and should be coming to everyone over the course of the next few days via an OTA update.

The first thing you’ll notice after the update is the game carousel.  Here you can swipe to find games that Google has built into the app like Cricket, Pac-Man and Solitaire but also games that you have installed on your phone.  If you want to play any of these games, simply tap the Play button below them and off you go.

Several months ago, Google outlined a change that was going to be happening for Google Play Games.  That change mostly circled around the removal of the Google+ account requirement for sign-in and the establishment of Gamer IDs, ala Microsoft Xbox.  The update to the Play Games app for Android that supports this change is now rolling out in the Play Store, giving users the opportunity to setup their Gamer ID and take advantage of the automatic sign-in process for games.

Over the weekend on the Android Developers Blog, Google announced a significant change is coming this year to Google Play Games.  To this point, if you played a game on your Android device and signed into the service, it required you to have a Google+ ID to do so.  It created a multi-step process for users and is a bit of a hold over from when Google tried to push everyone and everything through Google+.  At some point this year, Google is going to eliminate this requirement and gamers will be able to sign in one time per account and any new games they start playing, they will be automatically signed into the service.

We’re taking steps to reduce sign-in friction and unnecessary permission requests for players by moving the Games APIs to a new model. The new interaction is:

• Players are prompted to sign-in once per account, rather than once per game

• Players no longer need their account upgraded to Google+ to use Play Games services

• Once players have signed-in for the first time, they will no longer need to sign in to any future games; they will be automatically signed in

• Note: Players can turn off auto-sign-in through the Play Games App’s settings

It is certainly going to make it much easier for players to sign into the service, especially on new games where they can just get to playing immediately without having to go through the whole sign in process repeatedly.