YouTube begins public testing of ‘Playables’ gaming effort [Update: Rolling out]

Following YouTube’s pushes into music, television, gaming livestreams, and podcasts, the service has now begun public testing of its “Playables” initiative, which adds games to YouTube.

Update: YouTube Playables are now more widely available, particularly for those with a Premium subscription.

The existence of Playables on YouTube was first reported earlier this year as “a product for playing online games.” At the time, few details were available, as it was only being tested by employees.

The only other tidbit reported was that one of the games being tested was “Stack Bounce,” a title that is also available to play through Google’s GameSnacks.

Today, YouTube has updated its ever-rotating list of tests and experimental features to announce that Playables are rolling out now to a “limited number of users to start.” If you’re among that group, your YouTube homepage will have a new “Playables” section.

[September 5, 2023] Testing “Playables” on YouTube: We’re starting to test a new experience on YouTube called “Playables”. Playables are games that can be played directly on YouTube on both desktop and mobile devices. If you’re part of this experiment, you’ll see a section on YouTube called “Playables” that will appear alongside other content on the home feed. We’re testing this with a limited number of users to start. You can view and control your Playables history and saved game progress in YouTube History.

Unfortunately, the company doesn’t provide any more details about what types of games are included as part of the Playables program, such as whether we should expect to see more advanced titles than GameSnacks offers or how interested game developers can get involved.

Update 11/28: Over two months after the feature’s original announcement, YouTube’s experiment with Playables seems to be rolling out more widely, at least for those with YouTube Premium. As outlined on YouTube Premium’s “experimental new features “page, most subscribers should have access to the new gaming effort until at least March 28, 2024. That said, not all Premium subscribers on our team seem to have access to Playables, so there’s still a bit of randomness to it.

Play games instantly with no downloads.

How to use:
Find a “Playables” shelf by scrolling on Home or through a “Playables” link in the Explore menu on desktop and mobile.

Available on Android, iOS and Desktop Web.

Once the feature is available to you, you can tap/click “Playables” to access the full suite of games now available on YouTube’s web and mobile apps. From what we’ve seen, the first set of games should look quite familiar to anyone who’s tried Google’s GameSnacks. Titles like Scooter Xtreme, Color Burst, and Stack Bounce are also available through GameSnacks, though some games, such as State.io, are unique to YouTube Playables.

The majority of games on YouTube Playables are HTML5 titles that can also be played elsewhere, but there do seem to be a few exclusives. For instance, Angry Birds Showdown appears to be making its debut via YouTube, as there’s little information about the game available online. The game is developed by CoolGames, which has worked with the Angry Birds franchise before, developing a version specifically for Facebook Messenger.

Other delightful additions include Rainy Boba Cafe and Magic Cat Academy, games that first appeared as Google Doodles. The latter even got a sequel in 2020.

For YouTube, this move makes some sense, as gaming (not counting game streamers) is one of the few forms of media not currently provided by the platform. Having grown significantly since its origins as a simple video service, YouTube deals in live television, movie rentals, music, podcasts, gaming entertainment, and now playable games.

That said, the scope of Google’s gaming ambitions here will undoubtedly be a significant factor in how YouTube Playables are received. With Google Stadia having shut down earlier this year, a more serious gaming effort from YouTube (and therefore from Google) may be received with skepticism in a way that a simpler, HTML5-based games portal might not.