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Mobile GamesRelease

Level Up: Test Sidekick and prepare for upcoming program milestones

Posted by Maru Ahues Bouza, PM Director, Games on Google Play Last September, we shared our vision for the future of Google Play Games grounded in a core belief: the best way to drive your game’s success is to deliver a world-class player experience . We launched the Google Play Games Level Up program to recognize and reward great gaming experiences, while providing you with a powerful toolkit and new promotional opportunities to grow your games.   The momentum since our announcement has been incredibly positive, with more than 600 million gamers now using Play Games Services every month. Developers are also finding success, with one-third of all game installs on the Play Store now coming from editorially-driven organic discovery. In fact, in 2025, Level Up features have driven over 2.5 billion incremental acquisitions for featured games, in addition to an average uplift of 25% in installs during the featuring windows .     Today, we're inviting you to start testing Play Games Sidekick to keep your players in the action, sharing new Play Console updates to optimize your reach, and helping you prepare for our upcoming program milestones. Boost retention and immersion with Play Games Sidekick Play Games Sidekick is a helpful in-game overlay that gives players instant access to relevant gaming information—like rewards, offers, achievements, and quest progress— keeping them immersed while driving higher engagement for developers.  It serves as a seamless bridge to the highly visible "You" tab, connecting your game to 160 million monthly active users already engaging there and doubles as an active gaming companion that enhances the player experience with helpful, AI-generated Game Tips. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor keeps players in the action with Play Games Sidekick Today, Sidekick officially debuts in over 90 games , with the experience expanding to all Level Up titles later this year. But you don’t need to wait for the broader rollout to get your game ready. You can now enable Sidekick through Play Console to preview and test how your players will interact with features like Achievements, Streaks, Play Points Coupons, and Game Tips.  Upon completing your testing, be sure to push Sidekick for production to ensure your game meets the Level Up user experience guidelines.  Enable Play Games Sidekick in Play Console to begin testing Optimize reach and operations with new Play Console updates We are also rolling out two new Play Console updates to help you optimize your reach and streamline operations: Pre-reg device breakdowns: To aid launch decisions, you can now analyze the device distribution of your pre-registered audience by key device attributes including Android version, RAM and SoC. This enables you to optimize game performance, minimum specs, and marketing spend for the players already waiting for your game. Identify launch-day risks and optimize performance for your players with new pre-registration device breakdowns Real-time feedback:  With Level Up+ , our tier for high-performing games, qualifying titles can unlock promotional content featuring and tools like deep-links and audience targeting. While submissions must meet Play’s quality guidelines , you no longer have to wait 24 hours to learn about issues. You can now get immediate feedback on quality whenever possible. Your 2026 checklist: Securing your Level Up benefits Today, all games on Google Play qualify for Google Play Games Level Up. However, in order to maintain access to Level Up benefits like Play Points offers, expanded APK size limits, Play Store collections and campaigns consideration, or access to high-visibility surfaces like You tab and Sidekick, you’ll need to ensure your game meets user experience guidelines by their upcoming milestones:  By July 2026:  Integrate Play Games Sidekick to offer a quick and easy entry point to access rewards, offers, and achievements through an in-game overlay. Implement achievements with Play Games Services, to support authentication with the modern Gamer Profile, and to keep players engaged across the lifespan of your game.   By November 2026: Implement  cloud save  to enable progress sync across devices. Last week, we announced that we’re working on an expanded Level Up program that builds on our successful foundation to further improve gaming experiences. The update will introduce new requirements that will unlock additional benefits like lower service fees. Engaging with the program now ensures your work is strategically aligned with these future updates. We’ll share more details in the coming months. In the meantime, the path to your first program milestone begins today. By prioritizing these user experience guidelines now, you’re investing in the long-term value of your game and ensuring it’s built to thrive for every player. Head over to Play Console to start testing Sidekick and take the next step in your Level Up journey.

Android Developers BlogMarch 11, 20264 min read

Mobile GamesNews

Introducing the Google Play Games Level Up program

Posted by  Aurash Mahbod  –  VP and GM, Games on Google Play We’re evolving Google Play Games into an integrated experience centered on the player journey. Today, players have to jump between different platforms to discover, play, and socialize. Our goal is to connect these journeys to create the best gaming experience for players and grow your business. Games that offer seamless and rewarding experiences achieve higher engagement and growth on Play. That’s why we’re introducing Google Play Games Level Up , a new way we’re leveling up the player experience and unlocking greater success for your business. The Level Up program is open to all games¹, including access to powerful tools and promotional opportunities. Games can stay enrolled in the program and maximize benefits by meeting the user experience guidelines by each program milestone , the first milestone date being July 2026. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits and guidelines of Google Play Games Level Up. Program benefits to accelerate your growth Games that are part of the Level Up program can access a suite of benefits to accelerate business growth. This includes a new space to engage with players, access to content tools in Play Console, and enhanced discovery opportunities through editorial surfaces on the Play Store. Re-engage players on You tab. You tab² is a new personalized destination on the Play Store where players can view content and rewards from games they’ve recently played, all in one dedicated place. It’s designed to help you re-engage and retain players by showcasing your latest events, offers, and updates. Games can feature their content on You tab using engagement tools in Play Console. You can drive player engagement through a rich store presence using promotional content, Play Points coupons, YouTube videos, and achievements , which all show up on your game detail page and You tab. Clash of Clans is re-engaging players through You tab Maximize your game’s reach. To make it easier for players to discover great games, we’re incorporating the user experience guidelines into our editorial criteria. Games that are part of the program will have the opportunity for prominent boosts across the store including featuring opportunities and Play Points boosters and quests. Titles that are part of the program will have more opportunities to be recommended through editorial surfaces across the store including the Games home and Play Points home.   Get more opportunities to be featured on editorial surfaces Unlock deeper performance insights. Making the right decisions to grow your game requires a clear picture of your entire business. Next year, we're introducing more advanced reporting in Play Console. You'll be able to connect the dots from player acquisition to long-term engagement and monetization, giving you the holistic insights needed to optimize your growth strategy with confidence. Guidelines built on great user experience Games can stay enrolled in the program and access benefits by meeting the user experience guidelines. These guidelines are based on what players want: a seamless, rewarding experience everywhere they play. To deliver on this, we've established three core user experience guidelines: Player continuity: Today’s players enjoy their games across multiple devices. They want to continue playing without missing a beat. Cloud save makes this possible, Cloud save makes this possible, while Play Games Services automatically syncs their sign-in credentials for a seamless experience. We're making this experience even better with Play Games Sidekick. The new in-game overlay gives players instant access to their rewards, offers, and achievements, driving higher engagement for your game. With AI-driven tips and advice, Sidekick helps players stay immersed in the games they love. Starting early next year, you can enable this experience by using a simple toggle in Play Console with a streamlined testing process. Play Games Sidekick July, 2026 Cloud save November, 2026 Seamless restore November, 2026 Play Games Sidekick keeps players immersed in your game Rewarding player journeys: Players love seeing the time and effort they invest in games be recognized and rewarded. By designing achievements that span the lifetime of the game—celebrating progression to discovering hidden surprises or even acknowledging failed attempts—you can make a player's entire experience feel more engaging and valued. By implementing high quality achievements, you’ll become eligible for Play Points quests that reward players for completing each achievement and increase retention for your game. Achievements July, 2026 DREDGE rewards player progression through achievements Cross device gameplay: Players want the flexibility to enjoy their favorite games on any device. We’ve seen games optimized for multiple device types—from mobile to tablet to PC—drive higher player engagement and spend.  To make these games even easier for players to find, we are launching new in-store discovery features later this year to prominently showcase titles with great cross device and input support. You can give your players the flexibility to play how they want by adding keyboard and mouse support, as well as controller support—which also unlocks better gaming with attachable mobile controllers and Android XR. Google Play Games on PC makes it easier to bring your mobile game to a new audience with a streamlined distribution using Play Console. Controller and mouse / keyboard support   Recommended Play on PC   Recommended User experience guidelines by each program milestone Start exploring Google Play Games Level Up today The Level Up program is rolling out in Play Console starting today. Player expectations and developer needs are always evolving. The Level Up program is designed to evolve with them which is why user experience guidelines and benefits may be updated over time. We’re committed to providing updates early so you can make informed decisions about the program.  Google Play Games Level Up is how we’re investing in your success and creating the best experience for players. We believe that by partnering to build amazing experiences, we can build a stronger ecosystem for everyone. ¹ Games in the Casino category, including social casino and real-money wagering titles, may have limited access to certain program benefits. ² You tab is available in countries where Google Play Points is offered. See the Play Points Help Center for details.

Android Developers BlogSeptember 23, 20255 min read