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There’s a lot of persistent confusion about “linking” game accounts, particularly to Google Play or Apple iTunes accounts. In fact, there’s no actual “linking” between game accounts and Apple or Google accounts. What’s happening there is a matter of how the game client logs into your game account.

When you first download the game, the game has no idea who you are. But your game client can’t just say “log me in, you don’t know me, but just connect me to whatever.” In actuality, the game creates an invisible ID and password (simplifying a bit here, more or less) and uses that to log you into your account. If you’re logged into Apple Game Center or the Google Play alternative, those systems are handed these invisible credentials to log you into your game. That’s how you can get back into your game account even if you change phones. As long as you’re logged into the corresponding Apple or Google account, your game client can get you back into.

This invisible behind the scenes stuff is not connected to you the player in any way. Kabam has no idea who you are, because both Apple and Google require this stuff to be anonymized. That’s why you need an actual Kabam ID to log into the web store. If you do not create a Kabam ID and connect it to your game account, Kabam has no way of sending rewards or purchases to it. They would have no way of knowing which game account bob@gmail.com was playing.

A lot of players think that if their game is currently linked to a Google Play or Apple Game Center account, that means Kabam knows that the player with Google ID XYZ is playing the game account ABC. But that’s not true. Google does not send your identifying information to Kabam (nor does Apple). Google knows enough (because it has been told by the game) to log you into your MCOC game account, but it does so anonymously. Kabam only knows that somewhere out there is a phone that is logging into game account #979961023. Kabam doesn’t know who.

All services outside of the game itself, from the xSolla webstore to Twitch (drops) require Kabam know who you are, and what game account you are playing. That requires creating a Kabam ID. Creating a Kabam ID does NOT “unlink” your game account from your Google Play or Apple Game Center account. All that means is theoretically speaking, you don’t actually need your Kabam ID or password to log into your game account. A have a Kabam ID and password, and I can use them to log into the game from any phone or tablet, on iOS or Android. However, if I play on my own phones that are logged into iTunes and Game Center, I don’t need to do that. I can just log into the default game account that is still linked to my Apple ID. That’s all that means.

Basically, the “link” from Apple or Google to MCOC is an anonymous link. You can get into the game, but that’s it: Kabam doesn’t know who you are. Kabam IDs are IDs Kabam associates with you directly: when using those, Kabam actually knows who you are and can connect a game account to external services like the webstore or Twitch.