If you play games on Android, then you may have come across the option to sign in with a gamer profile provided by Google Play. Google announced enhanced gaming profiles this week that have wide-reaching consequences for gaming on Android.
Starting in less than four weeks, on September 23, 2025, Google is rolling out enhanced gaming profiles globally. The only exception are Android gamers from the UK and the European Economic Area, as their rollout is delayed by a week and starts at October 1, 2025. The change affects anyone with a Google Play account, including those who use it on PC only.
Google claims that the change introduces a “a suite of new features”, including “showcasing and tracking your game progress and stats” and “new ways to build your gaming community”. Gaming profiles can be made public, which means that it can be accessed by others.
Google gains access to more data
Google notes that it is changing how it is handline the gaming data of players “to power the new features”. The following data may be collected by Google under the new gaming profile feature:
- Information about your game activity. The Google Play games you have installed and played on your devices, when you played them, and for how long.
- Information from “certain games” that provide google with information. This may include information about a player’s in-game activity, e.g., saved progress, achievements or leaderboard rankings.
- A one-time option to import historic game data into the new profile.
Google says that the data is essential to enable the new features. The data will be used to “provide Play Games profile features and services”, including stats and progress tracking. Also, to “improve the overall Google Play gaming experience”, and to improve and develop additional features.
Is the data also being used for advertisement? Google makes no mention of advertisement in the announcement, which means that it is unclear at this point.
Default privacy settings remain untouched
Google says that the change won’t modify privacy settings of users. If a profile is set to private, it won’t suddenly become public after the migration.
Google Play users may select Settings > Google > Settings for Google apps > Play Games > Profile and privacy, to check and change the privacy setting. The three options are “Everyone on Google Play Mobile App”, “Friends only”, and “Only you”. The first option makes the profile public, the two other options limit visibility.
Note that the path and names of the settings may be slightly different depending on the Android device that you are using. You find an option to delete the gaming profile and game data there as well.
Now You: do you play games on your mobile devices? What is your take on the change? More data for Google or something that is truly useful to gamers? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
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