Google Play Games leaks ahead of I/O conference

Google may have been saving the announcement for its I/O developer conference later this week, but the enterprising hackers over at Android Police have discovered Google Play Games hidden within an Android update file.

The service, which is likely set to rival Apple’s iOS Game Center app, will let Android users send and receive multiplayer game invites, send text chats and earn achievements à la Xbox Live, and place scores on global leaderboards. It appears to be integrated with Google+ circles, letting you choose who can challenge you to a game.

Having torn into the latest 3.1 version of the Google Play Services APK, Android Police discovered a full set of icons that suggest there will be daily, weekly and all-time leaderboards, with medals awarded for high scores and achievements awarded based on completing objectives set by game developers. The controller icon matches the one found on the Google Play app store, suggesting the company won’t be rolling out a new design scheme as part of its I/O 2013 announcements.

This discovery follows on from an early APK teardown which revealed multiplayer support for both real-time and turn-based games, along with in-game chat and pre-game lobbies – however, the service now looks far more fleshed out, with icons and a working settings menu apparently now just waiting for games to support the service.

With Google I/O just a few days away, we won’t have long to wait to find out what Google has planned for Play Games.