Recently, Google revised its Play Store guidelines and ranking algorithms to prioritise apps and games optimised for large screens. Apps and games that require optimization will be ranked lower in the Play Store, and those with high crash rates will also be included in this ranking.
“Apps and games that adhere to our large screen app quality guidelines will now be ranked higher in search and Apps and Games Home,” reads the blog post, announcing the new Play Store for large screens.
Although Google has previously encouraged developers to optimise their apps and games for larger screens to improve the Android experience on tablets, this is the first time it is actively enforcing these rules to encourage developers to take it more seriously.
Google had previously introduced warning labels to encourage developers to optimise their apps and games for individual devices. These warning labels were intended to promote Play’s per-device technical quality standard.
However, these labels have not been sufficient, prompting Google to update its ranking algorithms, and this would directly impact the number of downloads.
Google’s Play Store has now been tweaked for large-screen devices, including refreshed app listings, improved rankings, streamlined navigation, and split-screen search. Game listings now have video banners at the top, and app details pages are reorganised into a multi-column layout for easier tablet viewing.
Starting in August, Google will prioritise apps that can be resized without letterboxing and support both portrait and landscape orientations. These apps will be highlighted in Google Play’s “Editors’ Choice Apps” and other Play Store features.
Additionally, Google is introducing new “content forward formats” that include screenshots specific to the device’s form factor. This will allow users to see how the app will appear in landscape or portrait mode.
Google’s focus on developing apps and games for larger screens comes only after years of complaints from users and when the company has its own large-screen devices, including the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet.
