One of the apps that all iOS devices come preloaded with is Game Center, which allows users to check achievements and leaderboards, make friends and get matched up against other iOS gamers from around the world. Now it looks like Google is readying a similar service. After digging into the .apk file of the new MyGlass app that Google released for Google Glass users, the folks at Android Police found a mysterious Google Play Services folder titled "games."

This "games" folder is similar to other Google Play Services folders that are found in various apps. Some examples of other Google Play Services folders are "auth," which contains a user's Google login details, and "maps," which allows an app to display Google Maps tiles. Android Police notes that, for whatever reason, Google appears to have included just about every Google Play Services folder that it has with the MyGlass app, even though it doesn't use most of them. Included in that list is the heretofore unseen folder titled "games."

Diving into the "games" folder revealed several different pieces that could be used as part of a gaming service. That includes references to real-time multiplayer matches, turn-based multiplayer games, achievements, leaderboards, lobbies and invitations. There's also a batch of files that appear to suggest that the real-time matches could support in-game chat.

Many of the details of this Google gaming service are still up in the air for now, and as we always note with leaks like this one, nothing is official until the company making the product actually announces it. The presence of all of these files seem to suggest that Google has got some sort of gaming framework cooking up in its labs, and the fact that there's now a dedicated "Games" category in the recently-redesigned Google Play Store could be another hint of El Goog's newfound gaming focus. There's no telling when Google might actually make this gaming service official, but a big developer-focused event like Google I/O certainly seems like as good a place as any for an announcement like that...

Via Android Police