Playable minigames may be coming soon to YouTube. As reported by the Wall Street Journal and others, a new service called “Playables” is being tested by Google employees, this according to an internal email at Google.
According to the email, the games being tested are simple arcade affairs and could be played on the YouTube website or on the mobile app. YouTube of course has always been popular with gamers, so this integration would seem like a natural fit. In fact, a similar feature was promised from Google Stadia before it was shut down, as pointed out in a video from the YouTube channel Cloud Gaming Battle.
While this feature is likely an effort to explore different possibilities to bring in revenue in the face of an advertising slowdown on the platform, it may also be a way for Google to repurpose technology that was probably in the works at Stadia before it was shuttered.
What effect this could have on the Activision Blizzard deal is already being speculated online.
This Stadia 2.0 story has the potential to further undermine the @CMAgovUK's rationale re. cloud gaming.
Also the FTC's, but we can already look past that one as they're unable to make even the slightest showing that would entitle them to a preliminary injunction. https://t.co/2vZXWdW0OD
— Florian Mueller (@FOSSpatents) June 26, 2023
It will be interesting to see if this “Google Stadia relaunch” does indeed undermine the FTC and CMA’s concerns regarding how the Activison Blizzard deal could affect the emerging cloud gaming market.
