Google is said to be preparing a new Android app that will look eerily similar to Apple’s Game Center for iOS devices.
Sources close to the plan tell Business Insider that Google is banking on this forthcoming native app to help level the social gaming field between the two mobile operating system giants.
“That’s a key piece of software plumbing necessary to make Google a contender in the fast-growing mobile games market,” the report reads.
Google’s software will include a social “achievement” system, which gives people awards and trophies for doing certain things in games. It will also include a leaderboard which will rank players against their friends, our source told us.
“They are starting to really understand all of the needs and wants to make a game really successful,” an industry source tells BI. “As recently as even a year ago, that really wasn’t part of their institutional DNA, But I think they’re getting there.”
For now, Google won’t offer formal comment on the matter. And, not surprisingly, neither will Apple, although its pretty clear that the iPhone maker has never viewed imitation as the sincerest form of flattery.
