In 2023, there’s some exciting news for YouTube enthusiasts! Google made headlines at the start of the year when it decided to discontinue its cloud gaming project, Google Stadia due to its struggle to gain substantial traction. It faced fierce competition from industry giants like Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. According to data shared by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Stadia held a meagre estimated 0-5% share of the cloud gaming market in 2022, while Nvidia GeForce boasted a considerably larger 20-30% share.
But here’s the exciting twist – Google is reentering the gaming arena, this time via YouTube, introducing an intriguing concept known as “Playables.”
This feature allows users to play games seamlessly on both the desktop website and mobiles. While the Playables section is currently limited to a select number of users, it marks an exciting development in the ever-evolving landscape of online entertainment.
In the YouTube Playables, you can find games like Stack Bounce. This game lets you take charge of a 3D ball that bounces on top of rings. Your mission? To click at just the right moment to smash through obstacles. If this game sounds familiar, that’s because Google already offers it in their collection of mini-games called GameSnacks.
To see if you’re one of the chosen ones in this gaming experiment, keep an eye out for the “Playables” section on your YouTube homepage, nestled among the usual content. This expansion into gaming adds yet another layer of entertainment to the YouTube brand, joining the ranks of short-form videos, movies, video game streams, music, TV services, podcasts, and more.
However, YouTube is not the only streaming platform testing the gaming waters. Netflix has also set its sights on the gaming industry, while social media giant TikTok has offered games to a selected audience. TikTok has even experimented with enabling streamers to play alongside their viewers and has hosted live trivia contests with cash prizes, further blurring the lines between social media and gaming.
The introduction of games into the YouTube experience as users scroll through content holds the potential to become a new avenue of engagement.
In a world where entertainment options continue to expand, YouTube’s foray into gaming signifies its commitment to providing diverse and engaging content to its ever-growing audience. As this experimental phase unfolds, it will be fascinating to see how this new dimension of YouTube transforms the online entertainment landscape.
