The Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube is currently testing a new service called Playables, which facilitates the immediate playability of straightforward online games within the YouTube site and application. Google staff have received emails inviting their participation in the games’ testing phase.
As per reports, an available game open for trial is Stack Bounce. It appears similar to Breakout, whereby players possess the objective of striking “layers of bricks with a bouncing ball.” The trial mandate for Playables consists of straightforward games that are conveniently shareable, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As of yet, there is no information available concerning the business practices of Playables nor how the service functions. However, it sounds similar to the proposed plan for Stadia, Google’s expansive cloud gaming platform that was shuttered after a mere three years of activity in January. The vision underpinning Stadia was that YouTube viewers could transition effortlessly from viewing a game walkthrough on YouTube to participating actively in the game on Stadia.
Upon the announcement of Stadia’s termination, the platform’s chief, Phil Harrison, mentioned Google’s recognition of the “promising potential to utilize this technology in various other fields of Google,” including YouTube. Playables could conceivably present an opportunity for Google to repurpose Stadia’s investment in streaming technology, though the games accessible in Playables’ testing appear to be less intricate than those offered on the Stadia platform. As such, they may not be as well-suited to YouTube’s gaming audience, not celebrated for their affection for casual gaming.
At first glance, Playables takes on the semblance of the updated version of Facebook’s gaming platform (e.g. FarmVille), rather than a cloud gaming platform to compete with Nvidia or Xbox. Google’s track record of direct involvement in gaming is not unblemished, and it remains to be seen if the tech behemoth’s other divisions can achieve greater success with this venture.
#Youtube #Playables #Gamechanger
