YouTube Explores Online Gaming: The Company's Move Beyond Video Hosting

YouTube is conducting internal testing of a new product called Playables, which aims to go beyond video hosting and bring online gaming to YouTube users.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGLGOOG Google employees were invited to test this new feature that gives users access to games on mobile phones and desktop computers. YouTube is also owned by Alphabet.

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By entering the gaming sector, YouTube aims to increase its presence and revenue streams, particularly in light of a slowdown in advertising spending.

YouTube has a large user base of 2.1 billion monthly active users based all around the world with 62% of U.S. internet users visiting it daily with 92% accessing it weekly and 98% monthly (as per The Social Shepherd). The platform has become a popular hub for gamers, competing directly with Amazon.com, Inc.'s AMZN Twitch in terms of live-streamed gaming content.

Details about monetization and specific plans for Playables remain undisclosed.

A YouTube spokesperson said to the Wall Street Journal: "Gaming has long been a focus at YouTube. We’re always experimenting with new features, but have nothing to announce right now."

On September 2022, Google announced the shutdown of its consumer gaming service, Stadia, due to its failure to attract a significant user base.

"While Stadia's approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected, so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service,” Phil Harrison, Stadia's vice president said at the time.

Nevertheless, the company asserted it remained deeply committed to gaming, and would continue to invest in new tools, technologies and platforms that power the success of developers, industry partners, cloud customers and creators.

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Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash