The video-hosting and streaming service already has a significant presence in gaming with its massive audience of gamers. Gaming content accounts for over 4 billion hours of watch time on the platform annually. But now YouTube is branching out into direct game access, which it hopes will attract even more users to the app. The company is testing a new feature called? Playables is a collection of over 30 arcade games that users can play on Android, iOS, and Web YouTube apps.
The feature is being rolled out to a limited number of subscribers. When the test is completed, it will be available to a larger group. YouTube is still evaluating the feature’s performance before deciding on its future. The company isn’t the first streaming service to try this kind of gaming, but it will likely face competition from Netflix games and Apple Arcade, which are both expected to launch this fall.
According to Google, bringing games to YouTube will help increase engagement with its paid Premium service and will help drive subscriptions to the ad-free version of the platform. It will also give subscribers a break from watching videos and be able to enjoy a quick game or two with friends. The company has previously experimented with integrating simple games into TikTok, which ByteDance has since rolled back.
Google will let users enable Playables in their YouTube app by tapping the ‘Playables’ tab and selecting ‘Try experimental features’ in the settings menu. Once activated, a games section will appear on the app’s home screen, where users can tap on the games they want.
There are presently 37 arcade games that can be played on the YouTube app through Playables, including brain and puzzle titles like Daily Crossword and Brain Out, card games like Stack Bounce and Daily Solitaire, and action titles such as Angry Birds Showdown and Cannon Balls 3D. YouTube says it plans to update the games regularly and add new ones.
Upon launching the new feature, YouTube encourages its Premium subscribers to test it out by sharing their experiences on social media and encouraging others to enable it. The company hopes to see increased subscriptions and a higher retention rate for existing subscribers.
Premium subscribers can get started with Playables by visiting the ‘Your Premium Benefits’ page on their YouTube app or desktop website and clicking on ‘Try experimental features’ in the ‘Playables’ tab. The feature will automatically roll out to them over the next few weeks. It’s important to note that the experimental games are only available until March 28, 2024. After that, the company will evaluate its success and decide whether to retain or discontinue it. Users can view their history and saved game progress in the ‘History’ tab of the YouTube app.
