Google CEO, Eric Schmidt denied that a potential social network of theirs would resemble Facebook with his statement, “the world doesn’t need a copy of the same thing.” This upcoming social gaming network, already dubbed Google Games, would be a Game Center competitor as it will most likely make a push to the mobile space, as Zynga and Electronic Arts games have already. Game Center will bring together the games available on the App Store into a community similar to offerings from full-on game consoles such as Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. There will be trophies and awards for those who score the highest in multiplayer games, as well as leaderboards and even virtual prizes along the way for fulfilling achievements.
Additionally, we have already seen the inclusion of a friends list in Game Center, and this is a standard characteristic of any social networking environment. It is unknown if Google intended to compete with Apple’s imminent entry into the social gaming space, but if history repeats itself, Google really likes following Apple’s trends.
