How to use your Google Play or GameCenter account on PC in Genshin Impact
Want to play cross-save on PC and mobile but getting stuck? We have the solutions you need...
Genshin Impact is good. You've probably already downloaded it and played it by now, rendering this revelation moot, but damn, it's good, huh?
I have played many, many free to play gacha games in my time here on Pocket Gamer, and I know for a fact that most of them are not worth your time. And Genshin Impact is absolutely worth your time, whether or not you're usually the type to get stuck into gacha games or not.
One of the nicest features of Genshin Impact is that you can play it on your mobile device, and then when you get home you can boot it up on your PC and enjoy it at 60FPS at 4K. But if you've logged into Genshin Impact on mobile first with your Google Play or GameCenter accounts on Android and iOS respectively, you might be running into some issues trying to get everything working.
That's not a problem - the method to get your cross-saves working is a little confusing, but this guide will quickly run through everything you need to know so you can play across mobile and PC without losing your precious save data. It's easier than you might think, it's just poorly explained.
You can download the PC version of the game here, just click the Windows icon at the bottom of the screen. The rules of crossplay and cross-saves
You should know that you can play with your friends regardless of which system you're playing the game on. Crossplay multiplayer works across all systems and you can easily add friends playing on any system using their UID.
Cross-saves are a bit more complicated. As of right now, you will be able to experience cross-saves on mobile and PC, but not on PS4. If you're a PS4 player, your save data will be locked to PS4 - you won't be carrying that data over to mobile or PC. Sorry to disappoint.
The game has been announced for release on Nintendo Switch, but we won't know the details of how that'll shake out until it launches…
Setting up your Google Play or GameCenter account for PC play
If you logged in to Genshin Impact using either your Google Play account or your iOS GameCenter account, you might have found that there's no way for you to easily log in to the PC version of the game. Don't worry, plenty of people have had similar problems.
This is what you need to do in order to prep your account for playing on PC…
- You can not log in to the PC version of the game using either a Google Play or GameCenter account, instead you'll need a traditional log-in method
- On the mobile version of the game, open up the Settings and open the Account menu
- In the Account menu open the User Settings
- In the User Settings, you'll be given the option to link accounts - but this is not what it seems, you won't be linking a second account, you will be creating a secondary sign-in method for your mobile account
- Choose to link an email account, and create a new account using an email address which is different to either your Google Play or GameCenter accounts - you will need to send a verification code to your email address, which you will need to recover and use ASAP as it is only valid for a limited time
- Once you've created a secondary account log-in you will be able to use that log-in method on PC
- Enter the details on the PC version of the game and you should find yourself using your mobile save data but on the big screen - nice
This is a surprisingly simple way of getting things connected - no need to create a second Genshin Impact account on PC. Though it's a shame that the game and MiHoYo's own website doesn't make this method clearer.
You should also be able to use the same log-in method to log in to your Genshin Impact account on other devices, including iOS if you've been on Android, and vice versa.
Can I set up my PS4 account in a similar way?
Unfortunately, if you are using the PS4 version of the game and attempt this method, you will hit a brick wall pretty fast.
Just open up the Settings menu, check the Account option, and… nothing. There are zero options in the Account menu, nothing you can do.
We can hope that at some point in the future they will include some options for PS4 players to play cross-save, but until then, you're better off playing on mobile and PC.
