Google Play Games will close its multiplayer services next year, leaving some old games to die
Back in the completely dark ages of Android, new services and APIs appeared to be launched every two weeks, with Google and Apple engaged in a robust land grab for enticing users and developers. Gaming became a popular battleground, and Google was investing in new Play Games features such as an API that gave developers the infrastructure to play real-time multiplayer games in turn for free. However, like many of the older Play Games APIs, Google will shut down this app in about six months and may make some older games unplayable.
Real-time and multi-turn-based APIs provide the infrastructure for setting up games, waiting rooms, invitations, contact management, and even player matching - although the matching service is often criticized for pairing players with various skill levels violently and geographic complexities. In the case of rotation-based games, the game state status is also saved for a period of time to allow extended games.
Both APIs are scheduled to close on March 31, 2020. In the meantime, no new games can start using APIs, and accounts that already use the service will not be able to deactivate them until the shutdown date. This will not affect other Play Games APIs for functions such as leaderboards, achievements, or saved games. In the Google Developer Announcement, the Firebase Realtime and Open Match database running on Google Cloud were introduced as possible migration options, although both may cost money depending on pricing or usage plans.
It is not known how many games are still using any of these APIs, and Play Games currently don't provide an easy way to verify. However, this is likely to end the process for those who have been abandoned or written as hobby projects, many of whom live in the Play Store as zombie apps.
Unfortunately, with policy changes requiring new and updated apps targeting the API level, many developers will not only be able to change the multiplayer code to use a new service, but will also have to update the SDK and possibly handle a number of other unrelated changes. Although this sounds good for users, it is likely to get more work than it deserves for games that aren't making enough money. In other words, it's time to say goodbye to some old games.
Source: Google Play Console
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