This week, the Game Developers Conference kicks off at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. While that is taking place, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced a bevy of positive changes it is making on games for players and developers. This is a move to address issues with varying items such as game purchases and features.
The changes will integrate Google+ even more. For example, game players can send virtual objects and gifts to anyone within their Google+ circles as well as through player search. Furthermore, the Google Play store will add 18 new categories to help make game searches faster and more efficient.
In addition, Google plans to add support for multi-player game invites. The focus is on bringing multi-player games to Android, which should be available in the near future. The Play games Unity plug-in is currently being upgraded to support these efforts.
Developers get some new perks too. Google will give them a beta-type version of a Play Games C++ SDK. This offers them more flexibility by allowing them to add achievements and leaderboards, as well as a statistics section on the Google Play Developer Console. The statistics sections helps developers by displaying the number of active daily users on top of retention analysis and leadership and achievement performance.
Additionally, Google will incorporate its Google Analytics tool into its AdMob interface. This will provide developers with an in-depth look at how players use their games. It also allows developers the ability to send targeted in-app purchase ads to selected recipients.
Lastly, the Google Play store will start requiring a password for every game purchase. This is something that will make parents happy who have been racking up bills for unauthorized purchases.
