YouTube plans to enter online gaming with ‘Playables’

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YouTube is currently working on a new product to add online games to their services on both mobile applications and PCs, as per the latest developments in the Google-backed firm.

According to an e-mail sent to the employees at Google, the company has introduced a new project named “Playables” that is under internal testing. Casual lightweight arcade games like Stack Bounce are being rolled out for testing.

According to Wall Street Journal, both Android and iOS mobile applications as well as the YouTube website on a web browser directly allows users to play. The games will presumably be the casual type for quick entertainments of users.

The step seems quite similar to Facebook games section where players can invite friends to play along or even play solo. These games are likely to be cloud-based, as they can be accessed using the browser and mobile application on both Android and iOS devices.

As of now, the testing is being done by the company’s employees, but the beta for public will soon be opened post the conclusion of developer-testing. While Google does not have a catalogue of originals and also shut down its cloud gaming service Stadia, it does operate one of the biggest mobile gaming market.

The company can cut a deal with the developers and provide many games on their platform or start over, choosing by a similar route to Netflix by acquiring or establishing its own gaming studios.

YouTube says gaming has always been a priority

YouTube is already popular for its live-streaming services and is one of the competitors to another video game streaming service. The company might be planning to enter the rapidly growing gaming sector after looking at its ever-expanding potential.

According to a YouTube spokesperson, gaming has always been a priority for the firm. Currently, there are no announcements about the availability to the public, however, internal testing for these new features seems to be already underway.

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