Google Adds Cross-platform Multiplayer Support to its Play Game Services

It might seem a bit strange for a company like Google to be showing-off its wares at a Game Developers Conference, but lest we forget that the company currently runs one of the world’s biggest digital game stores: Play Store. Last year, the company unveiled tighter integration between the Play Store and Google accounts, so that things like cloud saves, achievements, and other common online features were added. Now, it looks as though the company wants to expand well beyond its Android home.

Apparently, Google’s Play Game Services has been available on iOS already, but I’m going to jump to conclusions and say it hasn’t exactly taken-off there. However, that could soon change. If a developer plans to publish to both Android and iOS, and then also base their online features through Google, they’d gain the ability to offer their fans cross-platform play – yes, an iOS gamer could play against an Android (or Web) gamer.

I’d expect that this will be a much-touted feature once games launch with it, so it’s unlikely they’ll fly under our radar.

In other news, Google’s also added 18 new categories to the game section to help folks fine-tune their search even further, and for developers, enhanced statistics and improved ad support is also being added.