Congratulations! If you have just finished creating a Godot 4 game intended for mobile (and I assume you are if you’re reading this How-To) then I commend you for your hard work. It’s not easy to finish a game - even a small one. I won’t waste your time, let’s jump immediately into the process of taking your game from the editor to your Android device.

Here are the steps for getting your game live

There are two major steps for getting your game live on the Google Play Store:

  1. Creating a developer account on the Google Play Store.
  2. Exporting your game from Godot 4 in the correct format.

Signing up for a Google Play Developer Account

This step is relatively straightforward, and fortunately relatively inexpensive. It will cost you a one time fee of $25 to create your developer account, which is a steal in comparison to license on Apple’s App Store, which presents an annual subscription of $99.

Head on over to play.google.com, and click on the “Go to Play Console” link on the right top:

Google Play Login:

Follow the guided wizard, and you’ll soon have finished creating your account! Don’t step away from this page however, we’ll be returning soon to deploy our game.

Exporting Your Game for Android

The only format the Play Store currently accepts is .AAB, which luckily Godot can accomodate (it is not the default setting, however). Open the game you want to export, and follow these next steps:

  1. We need to download the android build template. Go to Project > Install Android Template > Manage Templates. Click “Download and Install”, which still start our installation process.
  2. When the download finishes, close out of this menu.
  3. Now, we will go back to the same menu. Again, go to Project, > Install Android Template. This time we will be given the option to “Install” it. Select this.

Godot 4 Install Button:

  1. Now go to Project > Export. There will be a bunch of things on this screen we’ll need to do.

  2. First, select “Android” as your preset.

  3. You’ll see a new panel on the right side, with lots of options. We’ll focus on just what’s needed to get your game onto the Google Play Store.

Godot 4 Export Panel:

  1. Setup your export path. Make sure the file extension is “.aab”.

  2. Under the Gradle Build section, check Use Gradle Build to on. Set export format to “.aab”.

  3. You are now ready to export your game. Click on “Export project..” at the bottom of the screen. When exporting your game, make sure to toggle debug mode off. Your game will be rejected if you leave debug on, so this is an important step.

Godot 4 Debugger Turned Off:

Submitting the Game to Android / Google Play Store

  1. Go back to Google Console. From here, click on “Create App”. After this, you’ll be stepped through a wizard to finish your game. Be prepared to submit marketing assets and a game description - you won’t be be able to submit your game without them.

And that’s it! Hopefully this guide helped you successfully get your game onto the Google Play Store, while avoiding much of the headache of trying to figure it out all on your own.