Game Mode API

The Game Mode API allows you to optimize your game for the best performance or longest battery life when the user selects the corresponding game mode.

Alternatively, you can submit requests for Game Mode interventions to improve the performance of games that are no longer being updated by developers.

The Game Mode API and interventions are available on:

• Select Android 12 devices
• Devices running Android 13 or higher

Each game may implement the Game Mode API behavior, propose Game Mode interventions settings to OEMs, or opt out of Game Mode interventions.

Setup

To use the Game Mode API in your game, do the following:

1. Download and install the Android 13 SDK.

2. In the AndroidManifest.xml file, declare your app as a game by setting the appCategory attribute in the <application> element:

android:appCategory="game"

1. Query the current game mode by adding this to your main activity:

// Only call this for Android 12 and higher devices
if ( Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S ) {
  // Get GameManager from SystemService
  GameManager gameManager = Context.getSystemService(GameManager.class);

  // Returns the selected GameMode
  int gameMode = gameManager.getGameMode();
}

// Only call this for Android 12 and higher devices
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S) {
  // Get GameManager from SystemService
  val gameManager: GameManager? = context.getSystemService(Context.GAME_SERVICE) as GameManager?

  // Returns the selected GameMode
  val gameMode = gameManager?.gameMode
}

1. Add code to query the game mode state in the onResume function:

   

Best Practices

If your game already supports multiple fidelity and frame rate targets, you should identify the appropriate settings for performance and battery saver modes:

• To consistently achieve the maximum device frame rates: consider slight reductions in fidelity to achieve higher frame rates.

• To improve battery life: consider choosing a lower display refresh rate (e.g. 30Hz or 60Hz) and use frame pacing to target the reduced rate.

For high-fidelity games such as first-person shooters, multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs), and role-playing games (RPGs), you should focus on achieving high consistent frame rates to maximize user immersion.

For both high-fidelity and casual games, you should support battery saver mode to lengthen playtime by reducing your peak frame rates.

Declare support for Game Modes

To declare support for Game Modes and override any Game Mode interventions by OEMs, first add the Game Mode configuration to the <application> element in your AndroidManifest.xml file:

<application>
    <meta-data android:name="android.game_mode_config"
               android:resource="@xml/game_mode_config" />
  ...
</application>

Then create a game_mode_config.xml file in your project's res/xml/ directory with the following contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<game-mode-config
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:supportsBatteryGameMode="true"
    android:supportsPerformanceGameMode="true"
/>

Switch Game Modes

To switch between the game modes, you can use the Game Dashboard (available on Pixel devices) or similar applications provided by OEMs. Alternatively you can use the Game Mode shell command during development.

If you are using Game Dashboard and the optimisation icon does not display when your game launches, you may need to upload your app to Google Play Console and install it through the Play Store. For information about app testing in the Play Store, see Share app bundles and APKs internally.

Figure 1. Game Dashboard shown overlaying the running game on a Pixel device.

In figure 1, the running game's Game Mode can be changed from the Optimisation widget. As shown on the widget, the game is currently running on PERFORMANCE mode.

During development, if you are using a device without Game Dashboard and the manufacturer does not provide any way to set Game Mode for each app, you can change the Game Mode status through adb:

adb shell cmd game mode [standard|performance|battery] <PACKAGE_NAME>

Sample Application

The Game Mode API sample highlights how you can optimize FPS and render resolution caps to save approximately 25% power in your apps.

Next

Read Game Mode Interventions to improve a game's performance when it isn't possible to provide game updates.