Youtube, one of Google’s largest divisions, is making forays into the casual gaming space, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Google recently invited employees to begin testing a new YouTube product called Playables, which gives users access to games on mobile devices or desktop computers, according to the email, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Arcade gaming, or casual, mobile gaming, is a growing segment of digital entertainment. Apple previously released its “Apple Arcade” catalog of ad-free games playable with a monthly subscription. Google itself followed suit with its similar Android Play Pass.
There is a growing synergy between game streaming, such as on Youtube, Amazon’s Twitch, or Facebook’s Gaming, and mobile gaming. Netflix has also started its own line of mobile games. Facebook was also a pioneer in the mobile and internet gaming space and hammered a deal with Microsoft over its failed streaming platform.
Google had also tried its hand at cloud gaming with its Stadia product. Cloud Gaming is a cutting edge technology where players stream a game on their device, while all the processing and downloading is conducted on a remote one.
Consumer spending on mobile gaming, a category including many casual games that are free to play with advertisements, fell last year as part of a broader industry slowdown following a period of pandemic-fueled growth.
It remains to be seen if Google will be able to integrate Youtube and mobile gaming, and if it will be able to grow against all the other Big Tech competitors in this space.
