Next generation Player IDs

To further enhance the privacy of users, we are introducing PGS next generation Player IDs. With next generation Player IDs, users will be assigned a different Player ID for each game they play. However, the Player ID remains consistent for a given game (PGS Project) across devices.

Next generation Player IDs will only apply to users who have never signed into your game with PGS. Existing users who have already logged into your game will continue to get the same Player ID.

Next generation Player IDs will be rolled out gradually and will eventually be a requirement for all PGS projects starting March 2024. For a detailed timeline of the rollout plan, review this blog post.

Use next generation Player IDs

To support next generation Player IDs, do the following:

  1. In the Google Play Console, select a game.
  2. Navigate to Grow > Play Games Services > Setup and management > Configuration.
  3. On the configuration page, select Edit properties. This page includes the settings to enable next generation Player IDs, as shown in the following image:

Play Games Services Next Generation ID Config

Prior to publishing the change to enable next generation Player IDs, we recommend using tester accounts to verify that next generation Player IDs won't cause issues with your identity system.

To do this, set the radio button to "On" but don't publish the change. Once the radio button is set to "On", the tester accounts will return next generation Player IDs for you to test with. This setting will apply to all the games linked to this PGS project.

Once you have completed testing, publish the change with your PGS project in the Play Console (under Play Games Services > Setup and management > Publishing) so the change goes into effect and all new users start receiving next generation IDs.

Test next generation Player IDs

If your game doesn't make the assumption that a Player ID will be consistent across different titles, then we expect that you will be able to enable next generation Player IDs without issues. However, we still recommend testing to confirm there won't be any issues.

A few tests we would recommend running:

  • Ensuring tester accounts (receiving next generation Player IDs) are able to login and link their PGS profile with game progresses.
  • (If applicable) Tester accounts are able to login to the same identity system with the same PGS profile across separate games, and have their progress tracked.

Use the developer player key

If you need a way to identify a user across your titles to offer cross-game users experiences, you can use the developer player key. The developer player key is only accessible through the REST Web APIs. To retrieve the ID:

  1. Create a server-side web app.

  2. Make the following HTTP request:

    GET https://www.googleapis.com/games/v1/players/me/scopedIds

The response will have one field:

developer_player_key (string) - The user's ID which will be the same across a developer's applications in their Google Play Console.

Retrieve a list of Player IDs across your applications

You can also retrieve a list of your user's Player IDs across the list of applications that are owned by your developer account. Please note that a user will only have an ID for the games that they have been signed into with PGS.

  1. Create a server-side web app.

  2. Make the following HTTP request:

    GET https://www.googleapis.com/games/v1/players/me/multipleApplicationPlayerIds