On January 19 this year, Google officially shut down its Stadia cloud gaming service. The service, which launched in November 2019, was designed to support cloud-based games on a variety of devices, including PCs, Chromebooks, Macs, iPhones and iPads.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google appears to be preparing to launch a new cloud gaming service, but this time through YouTube as a shared platform.
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The report cites an internal Google email. According to the report, the service is called YouTube Playables, which allows users to stream games on mobile devices and PCs through the video platform, similar to Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now.
The media believes that if the company has the idea to re-enable the Stadia code, it is possible that the service will support Chrome or Chromecast devices. However, it is not yet clear what types of games YouTube Playables will bring.
Unlike the full games offered by Google Stadia, the service seems to offer mostly “small, customizable” games, possibly similar to Discord Activities, that can be played via voice calls.
We’re not sure what Playables’ business model will be at this point, but industry insiders think it could be added to the subscription service for YouTube Premium members. Of course, the YouTube Premium service can also be opened at the same time to enjoy YouTube Music members, enjoy ad-free viewing services, the ordinary package subscription price of only $ 11.99 (currently about RMB $ 86), the family package $ 17.99.
As far as we know, YouTube Playables shouldn’t have much of an impact on the cloud gaming landscape, but if Google can provide a fun cloud gaming service, like Apple Arcade, it could make a comeback after the failure of Stadia.
