YouTube, a popular video-sharing platform worldwide, has begun testing a product for playing online games. The company has invited employees to participate in the testing of a new product called ‘Playables.’ Stack Bounce-like games are available for testing.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, YouTube has sent an email to its parent company Google’s employees regarding this. These games can be played through YouTube’s site on web browsers or via Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS mobile devices. A spokesperson for YouTube stated that the company is focusing on gaming and experimenting with new features. However, they mentioned that there is no announcement to be made about it at this time.
Many users on YouTube stream games and watch live game streaming. The company’s CEO, Neal Mohan, has planned to explore new avenues due to a decrease in revenue from advertising, and online games are included in these plans. The WSJ report states that several games have been made available to employees for testing, including Stack Bounce Arcade game with advertisements. In this game, players have to break layers of bricks with a bouncing ball. Online gaming will provide another means for YouTube to generate revenue from the gaming industry.
Additionally, the company has plans to introduce some new features. This includes the launch of YouTube’s first shopping channel in South Korea. YouTube, owned by Alphabet, the company that operates Google, has been facing tough competition from TikTok in recent years. At the end of the previous year, YouTube faced difficulties in India when the central government asked the company to remove three channels for spreading false information and fake news, accusing them of making false claims about government welfare schemes. The government’s Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking unit deemed these three channels as providing incorrect and misleading information.
