Google+ Games to get ax in favor of Google Play Games
Games on Google's social network will be retired on June 30 as part of a switch to a new game development platform.
For Google, there's only enough room for one game in town.
The Web giant on Wednesday took the wraps off Google Play, its new game development platform, during the first day of the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco. The cross-platform game service promises a handful of new developer features, including the ability to sync gaming activity between devices and save game progress on Google's servers.
But something that won't be saved on Google's servers will be the games that Google+ users have been playing for the last couple of years. As part of its new initiative, the old games will be retired on June 30, Google announced Wednesday.
"If you would like to continue playing a particular game, contact the game's developer to find out if there's a new destination site for the game," Google said in a support posting. Some of the game pages on Google+ already have links to other sites where the game can be played.
Some games in which players have already paid for game play will be migrated to another site for play based on the unused credits, while others will offer a grace period before the game is shut down, Google said.
Making game play more social is one of the goals of the new platform, which includes a new matchmaking service that can match up players for live and turn-based games. Some of the early developers on board include Gameloft, Glu, Ironhide Games, and Miniclip.