Why I don’t use Google Play Games for my indie games anymore
What a title. To be fair, it's not really accurate. But I explain more in a bit. What on earth is Google Play Games (GPG)? If you have already published a game on Android, chances are you've already used it.
Here the official description:
So, in short, it's an API for your games who allows you to provide some features to your players. You don't have to manage the infrastructure, no servers, everything is given to you, for free, by Google.
But what's the catch? Why you don't use it anymore?
Good question! I recently re-released a big update of my game Touch the Color on Android. After some weeks, I noticed that there were far fewer players in the leaderboard (managed by GPG) than the data in my analytics. Surprised, I dug a bit deeper.
I'm not going to make a fuss. Here the fact, the big majority of my players can't open the leaderboard and get an error message I set up in case the SDK is not available "Google Play Games is unavailable, It is needed to access this feature". Conversely, the Steam version of the game did not encounter the problem. Launching the game always retrieves the player's information. I didn't think so many users would see it. As a result, they've either given up on the game or played it without the leaderboard, which is an important part of the game.
But why? My mistake was believing that Google Play Games was a “basic” Android service. After some research, I found It is not, at least not in Europe (not sure about other countries). So here I am with an important feature that most of my players don't have. And how many are going to the Play Store and installing it? Not a lot...
That's why I'd hardly use Google Play Games any more in my indie games. It's unreliable, in my opinion. With the exception of achievements, which are not a critical element and can be a good addition.
Think twice before integrating important features of the GPG SDK in your game such as ranking or cloud save.
On my side, I am now working on a custom leaderboard and account implementation with OAuth (Google / Facebook / Discord / etc... An article about it soon!). In order to control the flow and my players' experiences. In bonuses, it allows me to give a cross-platform experience (at least a real global leaderboard between devices where the GPG is only available when the SDK is). Of course, there are turnkey alternatives such as PlayFab or Heroic Labs.