YouTube Tests Multiplayer Games With In-Stream ‘Playables’

YouTube is trying out another new gaming element, with multiplayer games now available within its “Playables” gaming platform.

As explained by YouTube:

“We’re beginning to test a new multiplayer feature for a few select games on YouTube Playables. Multiplayer on Playables lets you play games in real-time with other users. We’re starting our tests with two games: Ludo Club and Magic Tiles 3 on desktop and mobile devices. We're just getting started testing out new features for YouTube Playables with more to come in the future.”

So now, you’ll be able to challenge a friend to some of YouTube’s in-app games, which could be an interesting way to draw more attention to the feature, and maybe even lead to YouTube content opportunities on the back of this experience.

YouTube launched its “Playables” in-app games back in May, with more than 75 basic mobile games now available direct in the app.

Gaming is a critical driver of YouTube engagement, with many of the most popular creators in the app having direct links to the gaming community, while gaming content also generates billions of hours of watch time in the app every year. As such, given the already-present, and active gaming focus in the app, in-app games seem to make some sense, though YouTube hasn’t shared any data on the usage of Playables as yet.

But given this expansion, you would assume that people are indeed playing these lightweight games in-stream.

Various apps have tried out gaming to boost engagement, including Netflix, Meta, and more recently, LinkedIn, with its in-stream puzzle games.

Maybe, hosting these mini-games is a better way to maximize time spent, and facilitate more opportunities for each app, and as such, variable experiences could be a good way to encourage more usage.

But it remains to be seen whether people really care about these mini-games, with only a small percentage of users in these other platforms regularly coming back to them.

Still, their hosting load is small, and again, multiplayer games could provide YouTube content opportunities too. So it’s a good experiment, and it’ll be interesting to see whether YouTube’s Playables are actually catching on.