Game Center
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| Developer | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Type | Online service |
| Launch date | September 8, 2010 |
| Current version | 10.2.1 (14D27) (January 23, 2017) |
| Platform | iOS 4 or later, Mountain Lion or later |
| Operating system | macOS, iOS |
| Members | 67 million |
Game Center is an online multiplayer social gaming network released by Apple Inc. It allows users to invite friends to play a game, start a multiplayer game through matchmaking, track their achievements, and compare their high scores on a leader board. Game Center was originally announced on April 8, 2010, and became publicly available with the release of iOS 4.1 on September 8, for the iPad with iOS 4.2 in November. The service underwent a major update in October 2011 with iOS 5 matches. The Game Center app was removed in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, but continues to be available through compatible games.
On February 16, 2012, it was announced by Apple that Game Center would be integrated into the latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, set for a July 25, 2012 release. Some games can now share multiplayer functionality between the Mac and iOS versions of the app.
Game Center can be implemented by developers in iOS 4.1 or later, and Mac OS X 10.8 or later, through the GameKit framework. Game Center is available on iPod Touch 2nd generation and later (iOS 4.1 or higher required); iPhone 3GS and later (iOS 4.1 or higher required); all models of the iPad (iOS 4.2 or higher required); Mac computers running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or later, Apple TV 4 running tvOS, and Apple Watch running watchOS 3.
Gaming became a major part of the iOS platform when Apple launched the App Store on July 10, 2008. Unlike the console systems that were currently on the market, Apple had no unified multiplayer and social system for their platform. This gap was soon filled by third parties, such as, OpenFeint, Plus+, AGON Online and Scoreloop. These third parties had control over the online gaming environment and with multiple third parties involved, it left a non-unified experience.
Game Center was announced during an iOS 4 preview event hosted by Apple on April 8, 2010. A preview was released to registered Apple developers in August. It was released on September 8, 2010 with iOS 4.1 on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2nd generation through 4th generation, and is included with iOS 4.2 on the iPad.
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