Google Play Games Level Up is a program to recognize and reward great gaming experiences, providing you with powerful tools and promotional opportunities to drive business growth for your game.
Our mission is to connect players with the best gaming experiences—ones that offer player continuity, rewarding player journeys, and cross device gameplay. Level Up is open to most games and includes access to program benefits. Games can remain in the program and maximize benefits by meeting the user experience guidelines by each program milestone.
Player expectations and developer needs are always evolving, and the program is designed to evolve with them. User experience guidelines and benefits may be updated over time.
This page describes the user experience guidelines. To know more about the program and benefits, visit the Google Play Games | Level Up program page.
User experience guidelines
To gain access to the benefits offered by the Level Up program, your game needs to adhere to all the required user experience guidelines defined in the program by the timelines and milestones.
Adhering to recommended user experience guidelines is not mandatory to access the program benefits, but these guidelines might evolve into required guidelines in the future.
The following sections outline the user experience guidelines with three main themes:
Rewarding player journeys
Players love seeing the time and effort they invest in games to be recognized and rewarded. By designing achievements that span the lifetime of the game—celebrating everything from leveling up and story progression to discovering hidden surprises or even acknowledging failed attempts,you can make a player's entire experience feel more engaging and valuable. By implementing high-quality achievements, you'll become eligible for Play Points promotions like Quests that reward players for completing achievements and increase retention for your game.
Refer to: Achievements
Achievements
Required
- A minimum of ten achievements spread across the lifetime of the game.
- At least four achievements should be reasonably and reliably achievable within an hour of gameplay by everyone who plays.
- All achievements should have unique names and descriptions. These should make clear to users what they need to do to get the achievement.
- All achievements should have unique icons.
Recommended
- Use incremental achievements to show progress.
- At least forty or more achievements spread across the lifetime of the game including ones that surprise and delight, recognise milestones, and capture player progress.
- Use hidden achievements for element of surprise and delight.
- Add new achievements when new levels or episodes are added to the game.
Player continuity
Players want to switch devices and continue their game without missing a beat. Cloud save and seamless restore makes this possible, seamlessly syncing progress and rewards to their gamer profile so they can pick up right where they left off.
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.
Refer to:
Seamless restore, see Identity and account linking
Cloud save and seamless restore
Required
- Link Play Games Services account, with third-party or in-game identity solutions. See Identity and account linking.
- Implement cloud save to backup and retrieve the latest state of the player's game on the cloud. See Cloud save.
Play Games Sidekick
Required
- Access the Play Games Sidekick while playing your game.
- From early 2026, you can enable this experience for internal testing by using a toggle in Play Console with a streamlined testing process.
Cross device gameplay
Players want the flexibility to enjoy their favourite games across their devices. We have 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 to showcase titles with great cross device and input support. Google Play Games on PC makes it easier to bring your mobile game to a new audience on PC with streamlined distribution using Play Console.
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.
Refer to:
Controller, mouse, and keyboard support
Recommended
- You can play your favorite games with a controller, keyboard, and mouse
on your preferred device.
- The game should be fully playable with a controller, keyboard, and mouse across all devices the game supports through Play. Fully playable implies that the game can be played from the start, inclusive of gameplay and settings menus, without the need for touch. For best practices, you can refer to the following: keyboard, mouse, and controller support.
Play on PC
Recommended
- Support multi-platform either with PC native or through emulation of the mobile version on PC. See Google Play Games on PC.
Timelines
The Level Up program started in September 2025. For more details, visit the Google Play Games | Level Up program page.
The key dates dates are as follows:
| Deadline | Milestone |
| July 31, 2026 | Games released before July 31, 2026 will be automatically enrolled in the program and can enjoy the program benefits upon release. After July 31, 2026, games will have to meet the required user experience guidelines for the following features:
|
| November 30, 2026 | After November 30, 2026, games will have to meet the required user experience guidelines for the following features: |
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find the benefits of the program?
The benefits are described in the Google Play Games | Level Up program page.
Where can I find the timelines to comply with the user experience guidelines?
The timelines are available in the Google Play Games | Level Up program page and also the timelines section.
What is the difference between a required and a recommended guideline?
Required guidelines:
- Established Timelines: Deadlines will be defined.
- Validation: Compliance with guidelines will be subject to validation methods such as self-certification, manual validation, automated validation, or structured reviews.
- Benefit Eligibility: Eligibility for Level Up benefits will be determined by being compliant with the guideline.
- Editorial Contribution: Compliance with guidelines will contribute to editorial decision-making.
Recommended guidelines:
- Timelines: Deadlines are not defined.
- Benefit Eligibility: Non-compliance with guidelines won't impact eligibility for Level Up benefits.
- Editorial Contribution: These guidelines will contribute to editorial decision-making.
- Level Up direction: These guidelines will serve as a mechanism to communicate the long-term strategic direction of Level Up. The intent is for recommended guidelines to potentially evolve into required guidelines in the future.