Anti-piracy for Android games

This guide describes how to use the anti-piracy feature to secure your Android games.

The anti-piracy feature is available for Android games only. If anti-piracy is turned on for your game, the Google Play Games Services checks if a user is licensed to play your game. If none of the user accounts on a device are licensed for your game, the Google Play Games Services calls sent by your game fail and return a LICENSE_CHECK_FAILED status code.

To be licensed for your game, users must install it from Google Play. The license checking takes place regardless of whether your game is a free or paid app. The checking is only performed if the game is published. Users with test accounts can play the game without purchasing it.

Enable anti-piracy

To turn on the anti-piracy feature for your Android game:

  1. Follow the steps described in Set Up Your Game to add your Android game to the Google Play Console, if you have not done so already.

  2. In the Google Play Console, open the Games services tab, then select your Android game from the list.

  3. Open the Linked apps tab, then select your existing Android game or link to a new Android game.

  4. Turn the Enable anti-piracy option to ON.

  5. Click Save and continue.

  6. Publish your game in order for license checking to be activated.