YouTube has officially launched Playables, a collection of free games that you can play via the iOS or Android YouTube apps, as well as the streaming giant’s website.
The Google-owned company started testing Playables last fall, and now it’s starting to roll out the offering more widely.
There are already more than 75 games to choose from across a range of genres, with current titles including Angry Birds Showdown, Words of Wonders, Cut the Rope, Tomb of the Mask, and Trivia Crack.
YouTube said the games are now rolling out to more users, but added that it may take a few months for Playables to reach everyone. Here’s how to find out if they’re available now where you are:
– Open the YouTube home page either on iOS, Android, or desktop, and look for Playables in the Explore menu.
– If it’s there, browse the games and dive right in. You can save your game progress and track your all-time best scores, too.
If you find a game that you really enjoy, you can easily share it with friends by tapping the three-dot more menu.
“Playables are a fun, interactive way to experience YouTube, with lightweight, entertaining games … that you can play right now,” the company wrote in a post on its website.
With Playables, YouTube is following in the footsteps of other platforms like Netflix, Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, and TikTok that also offer minigames as they seek to keep users on their sites for longer.
But for YouTube itself, Playables is just another step in its ongoing expansion. Since launching in 2005 as a simple video uploading platform, the company has added podcasts, shopping, music, movies, and more to its vast roster of offerings.
