An emerging report from The Wall Street Journal suggests that Google may be foraying into video games again with a tool called ‘Playables’. This is coming months after the company shut down Stadia for failing to get the attention of gamers. However, this time it appears Google wants to integrate its gaming tool into YouTube.
The WSJ reported that YouTube was testing a product meant for playing online games. This was revealed in an email sent to the company’s employees. The ambitious move will see YouTube become more than a video hosting platform to a place where games can be played and shared between users.
Playables is designed to give users the ability to play different games within YouTube’s mobile and web app. In the first phase, the company plans to introduce “easily shareable games”. One of the games that employees were invited to test was Stack Bounce, a popular arcade game where players use balls to smash bricks.
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“Gaming has long been a focus at YouTube,” said a company’s spokesperson in a statement. “We’re always experimenting with new features, but have nothing to announce right now.”
Why Google shut down Stadia
Stadia was Google’s ambitious cloud gaming service that debuted through a closed beta in October 2018 and launched publicly in November 2019. The platform was meant to offer cloud gaming services to different devices.
However, in early 2021, rumors started emerging that Stadia services—which included Stadia Games and Entertainment (SG&E), Stadia Games, and Stadia game development studio—were not gaining traction as the company had anticipated.
In September 2022, Google confirmed that it would shut down Stadia. By December, it started to issue refunds to those that made purchases for Stadia hardware, subscriptions, add-ons, and games. Prior to its shutdown, Google’s former product lead Dov Zimring hinted at the Stadia’s development.
“We had prototyped on Windows early on… the mission we had established at the very beginning was to enable revolutionary experiences… we saw Windows as limiting to innovate in that regard because we didn’t have control over the operating system,” Zimring told The Verge.
The revelation made it harder for gamers to understand why Google pulled the plug. Stadia controllers connected to the servers using Wi-Fi rather than directly to the console or PC via cables or Bluetooth—although it had Bluetooth chips for possible connection with local machines when Stadia services were shut down.
Worm Game was the last game that was released on Stadia before it was shut down. Interestingly, that was the game the developers used to test the service before it went live.
It is unclear how Google will profit from Playables
Google has primarily dominated the mobile game sector but its previous attempt at triple-A gaming market with Stadia did not go as planned. Paul Tassi, a senior contributor at Forbes thinks it is Google’s “response to Netflix making its own games playable within the app”, notwithstanding that the feature has been largely ignored.
Stadia’s potential became more evident after its shutdown, according to Phil Harrison, Stadia’s chief. Consequently, Google began to explore how to use the technology in other areas of the company, including YouTube.
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Reports suggest that hosting online games on YouTube is a strategy that the company’s CEO Neal Mohan has been pursuing for some time following dwindling advertising spending. One thing that was not mentioned was how Google will make Playables profitable.
One way that can happen is if the company makes Playables available only to YouTube’s Premium subscribers. However, if Playables is made available to everyone, Google will need to figure out a different way of monetizing the platform. Also, this initiative may still be months or years away from production.
The same reason why Netflix Games is not getting much attention is the same reason why it may be hard for people to see YouTube as anything other than a video streaming app. It will definitely take a lot of getting used to for a lot of people.
Does the idea of using YouTube to play games excite you? Share your thoughts with us in the comment box below.
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