In June, there was talk that YouTube was internally testing an innovation that would bring online games to the platform. And now an email sent by Google to its employees has invited them to participate in the testing phase of the YouTube service known as Playables. In addition, the company officially announced that YouTube is testing playable games.
It adds a new “Playables” section to the platform that will feature games that can be played on both desktop and mobile devices. The gaming service is initially limited to a small number of YouTubers. One of the first games is Stack Bounce, a 3D ball bouncing game that requires well-timed clicks. Stack Bounce is already available on Google’s GameSnacks minigame service.
Google says users can see if they have access to the new Playables game section by searching alongside their standard YouTube video stream. The addition of games to YouTube is a continuation of the platform’s expansion into many forms of entertainment, including short videos, feature films, music, television service, podcasts, and more.
YouTube is also testing a channel tab and hum-based song search in the Subscriptions stream. Recent news shows that YouTube has developed a new way to search for songs by humming or singing.
Meanwhile, Google discontinued its Stadia cloud gaming service in 2021. The company’s biggest gaming successes have come from the one-off, playable Doodle games on its homepage. So Google can attract more attention by organically posting games on YouTube streams.
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