It’s been almost a year since YouTube’s plans to enter the gaming sphere began to take shape, and now those plans have landed squarely in the hands of the public.
YouTube Playables, a place to play online games without leaving YouTube’s platform, has arrived.
Casual games everywhere
YouTube Playables are now, well, playable, on browser, iOS and Android, with over 75 games available as of launch day, May 28th, 2024. They are intended as “lightweight, entertaining games”, clearly aimed more at the casual market than hardcore gamers, with a “popular” tab to highlight which of those games are fan favourites right now.
Whether it’s the crossword puzzler Words of Wonders or arcade-esque Stack Bounce, or even Angry Birds Showdown, casual players have plenty of choice. Progress across the 75+ games on Playables is saved for the sake of continuity, as YouTube clearly hopes its viewers will game on the platform more than once – returning to the same titles to resume their progress.
For this reason, users must be logged in to YouTube to play its library of games. And in addition to saving progress, Playables also records a user’s high scores, again offering a reason to return and improve over time.
YouTube employees have reportedly been playtesting Playables since June 2023 and Stack Bounce was among the first available to them. And although the reveal earned the ire of Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, YouTube’s expansion beyond videos and streaming isn’t an unprecedented step after Netflix entered the gaming world some years earlier.
A public test of Playables was rolled out last September to select users and the number has only snowballed since. Now everyone can play Playables (and anyone who can’t should “keep checking back“), recommend ways to “make Playables even better”, and jump into classic titles without any extra downloads.
For avid Android fans, that may even include playing Cut the Rope on YouTube, Cut the Rope 2 via Google Play, and peering enviously over Apple’s garden wall as Apple Arcade subscribers play Cut the Rope 3…
