YouTube has widely launched its Playables platform with dozens of flash-style mobile games to capture bored audiences on its app.
Playables, available as a direct URL on a browser or in the YouTube mobile app, hosts over 75 games from Angry Birds to simple billiards and recognizable bubble-pop games.
Millennials will remember these as flash games from the dawn of the internet, while Boomers, Gen Z, and beyond will recognize iterations that have appeared on their tablets or phones over the years.
It remains to be seen how expansive YouTube will want to make its gaming library and to what degree it takes it seriously.
YouTube describes Playables as a "fun, interactive way to experience YouTube — with lightweight, entertaining games."
The website boasted games such as Angry Birds Showdown, Words of Wonders, Cut the Rope, Tomb of the Mask, and Trivia Crack.
Most of the games are simple but could serve as an interesting, educational format for children.
For example, Words of Wonder has users spell out three- to four-letter words to complete a Scrabble-like puzzle. However, after 12 levels it still offers little to no challenge.
Trivia Crack is perhaps the most universally appealing. It consists of simple, timed trivia questions, with the goal of seeing how many the user can guess correctly in a row without getting a question wrong.
Angry Birds Showdown is easily the most enjoyable of a dozen played games, which makes sense given that the franchise has spawned a ton of sequels, TV shows, and even movies.
Overall, the platform is, at best, what one would expect: free games meant to pass the time that are fairly addicting. They offer easy-to-reach incentives that have users endlessly chasing the dragon.
One of the first questions users will ask when playing is, "Will progress be saved?" Getting to level 20 and then having to start over is certainly annoying, but it definitely gets the user sucked into the game, which ultimately benefits the designer's engagement rate.
Luckily, YouTube Playables saves progress and high scores, although it is attached to your YouTube account; you cannot play these games unless you are signed in to a YouTube profile. This appears to be an obvious trade-off for the nonexistent microtransactions, ads, or purchase fees that pop up in other games in the App Store or Google Play Store.
According to the Daily Star, Google has not indicated any plans to monetize the Playables section in the foreseeable future.
Of course, YouTube is a little late to the party in terms of nontraditional gaming platforms offering some fun. LinkedIn, the New York Times, and Netflix all have expanded into gaming.
Netflix, in particular, has a much higher bar than YouTube. This includes games like Grand Theft Auto, Immortality, and the very popular Into the Breach.
It remains to be seen how expansive YouTube will want to make its gaming library and to what degree it takes it seriously. This could be another foray into children's content, a market YouTube seems keen on trying to target.
As of now, Playables may be relegated to bored office workers and parents who have nothing else to offer their kids in terms of short-term entertainment on a train ride. Expect to find one or two favorites in a sea of forgettable experiences.
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