Gaming News

Following the Termination of Google Stadia, YouTube Is Testing a New Online Gaming Service

Although the plug was pulled on Google Stadia just a few months back, YouTube is reportedly experimenting with an online gaming service

I’ve covered a lot about cloud gaming in my previous posts. You can find the links to those at the end of this one. But today, I want to talk about two cool things: what Google Stadia was and some fresh news about YouTube’s online gaming service.

What was the Google Stadia?

Google Stadia was a gaming platform that let you play your favorite video games without needing a fancy console or a powerful gaming PC. It was like having a virtual gaming console in the cloud. All you needed was a compatible device, a decent internet connection, and a love for gaming.

One of the most significant advantages of Stadia was that you could play games on almost any device with a screen and an internet connection.

Whether chilling on your couch, commuting on a train, or even on vacation, as long as you had your device and an internet connection, you could fire up Stadia and dove into your gaming adventures.

And hey, Stadia wasn’t just about playing games alone. You could also connect with your friends and enjoy multiplayer games together. Whether you want to team up in a cooperative game or compete head-to-head, Stadia lets you do it all, just like traditional gaming platforms.

Now, I won’t sugarcoat it. Stadia wasn’t perfect. It was still relatively new, and the game library might not have been as extensive as other platforms. However, Google constantly expanded its collection and collaborated with game developers to bring more exciting titles to the platform.

Unfortunately, Google Stadia was shut down at the beginning of this year due to a bunch of problems the platform encountered. This included connection issues, a need for AAA games, and poor marketing. It was sad to see a platform with great potential needing to be shut down.

YouTube is creating an online gaming service.

So, apparently, YouTube is trying out a new gaming service called Playables. This comes not long after Google shut down Stadia, their big project to make cloud gaming mainstream.

They said they might use the technology they developed for Stadia in other stuff they do, but it’s not clear if Playables is the first attempt at that. Playables seems to have some similarities to Stadia, making it easy to play games on the cloud.

The Wall Street Journal reported that YouTube is testing the service internally and invited Google employees to join in. The idea is that you can play and share games instantly on your computer, phone, or tablet using the YouTube app. It’s being tested on both Android and iOS devices.

We don’t know much about the game library on Playables, but there’s one game mentioned called Stack Bounce, where you have to break bricks with a bouncing ball.

There’s already a similar game called Stack Bounce on Google Play for Android, so it seems like Playables could be a way for Android game developers to make their games available on iOS and computers without making separate versions.

While Stadia had exclusive games, it’s not clear if Playables will do the same. The email that leaked about Playables didn’t say anything about YouTube’s plans for the service.

A spokesperson from the company said that gaming is an important focus for YouTube and they’re always experimenting, but they didn’t say much about Playables.

Final Words

So, we’ll have to wait and see if YouTube Playables actually happens.

But its existence shows that Google still wants to be in the online gaming world, even after Stadia didn’t work out.

There was a report in March that said Google is working with game publishers on new cloud gaming projects, so they’re definitely not giving up.

If you enjoy my posts and would like to stay updated on the latest gaming-related news, technology advancements, design trends, and social media insights, I invite you to follow my profile.

I will continue to share my thoughts and insights on a wide range of topics in the world of entertainment and technology.

With that being said, thank you for reading my post, and have a good one.

Here are a few of my previous stories relating to cloud gaming I believe you will enjoy:

References

Google Confirms Exact Shut Down Time for Stadia.

Google is reportedly adding online games to YouTube.

YouTube Testing New Online Gaming Service After Google Stadia Shutdown

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