YouTube Working on 'Playables' Gaming Service
YouTube appears to be developing a new gaming service called "Playables," according to The Wall Street Journal. The service allows users to play games on mobile devices or desktop computers, and it is being tested with Google employees internally.
Playables appears to offer instant-play games through the YouTube website or YouTube mobile apps, offering an alternative to video content. In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that "gaming has long been a focus at YouTube" and that the company is "always experimenting with new features," but the spokesperson declined to comment specifically on Playables.
Google previously had the Stadia cloud gaming service, but announced plans to shut it down last September. Google said that the service was not able to gain the traction that Google had been expecting, and Stadia was officially shuttered in January 2023.
Playables does not offer the same cloud based gaming as Stadia, focusing on simple games rather than console titles. One of the available games is Stack Bounce, an arcade game where players smash bricks with a ball.
There is no word on when Playables could see a public launch.
Popular Stories
YouTube today said it is introducing automatic AI detection, with automatic AI labeling applied to videos with "significant photorealistic AI use."
Creators are still expected to manually disclose when realistic AI is used for videos even with the new automatic labeling system. Creators who think their content was incorrectly identified as AI-generated can update the disclosure status in...
If you pay for extra iCloud storage on your iPhone, beyond the 5GB included for free, you might receive two more perks on iOS 27 at no additional cost.
First, Apple said there will be daily usage limits for some of the new and enhanced Apple Intelligence features on iOS 27, including image generation. However, the company noted that "increased access" is available with "most" iCloud+ storage ...
Back at WWDC 2025, Apple revealed that it was planning to allow CarPlay users to watch video via AirPlay in their vehicles while they are not driving, but we did not hear many specific details about this functionality until now.
In a WWDC 2026 video aimed at developers, Apple said the CarPlay video feature is available in new vehicles that support it. When playing a video in an iPhone app...
