Posted by Laura Nechita, Software Engineering at Google Play and Victor Chen, Product Specialist at Google Play
To further enhance the privacy of users and their multi-platform gaming experience, Play Games Services (PGS) is introducing next generation Player IDs. With this change, the first time a user plays a game, they will always be assigned a unique next generation Player ID that will remain consistent regardless of the device or platform a user plays a game on, but which will vary from game to game.
Existing users, or accounts that have already signed into your game using PGS retain their current PGS Player IDs and are not affected by this change. If you have multiple titles in your portfolio and need a way to identify users across your titles to offer cross-game user experiences, we are also introducing a developer player key. Learn more.
With next generation IDs, it will also enable better Play Games Services support for all accounts, including those under supervision.
Here is a timeline for the rollout:
Next generation IDs are enabled in draft mode for newly created game projectsYou can disable next generation IDs on the game properties page in Google Play ConsoleFeb 2024
Next generation IDs will be turned on in production for all game projects (including existing game projects)If you notice any issues during this period you will have one month to disable next generation IDs and fix the issueMar 2024
Next generation IDs are required for all game projects and cannot be disabled
How this affects your game
Next generation IDs are only assigned to users signing in to PGS on your game for the first time.
Users who have already signed in to PGS on your game are not affected.
We are introducing a new developer player key which allows you to identify users across games in your portfolio.
