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YouTube Launches 'Playables' Mobile Games for iOS

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YouTube is the latest company to introduce mobile games that are available outside of the App Store, today announcing the official launch of "Playables" in the YouTube app.

youtube-playables.jpg

Playables are free games that can be played on the YouTube website or in the YouTube app for iPhone and iPad. There are more than 75 games available, including Angry Birds Showdown and Cut the Rope.

YouTube is focusing on "lightweight, entertaining games," so many of the options are games that are meant to be played for a short period of time rather than longer games that you might find on the App Store. Game progress is saved, and YouTube keeps track of all-time best scores.

Playables have been available for a small number of users in select markets as YouTube has tested the feature, but as of today, the games are rolling out to everyone and are more widely available. Playables can be accessed in the iOS app by going to the Explore menu and choosing the Playables section.

Netflix has offered a selection of in-app games since 2021, and has started testing games on the Apple TV as well. Other companies like The New York Times also offer dedicated games.

Article Link: YouTube Launches 'Playables' Mobile Games for iOS
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/05/28/youtube-playables/
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I saw this cluttering up my YouTube app and immediately thought "WTH is this junk?"

Ugh..
Just more unwanted distracting clutter

(and I'm a YT Premium sub!)

Now I get to click "not interested" on both Shorts and these games .... all the time because they keep showing up
 
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This type of bloat pushed me to uninstall YT years ago. Using Safari & Vinegar or Brave aren't perfect, but they aren't riddled with performance issues. My main gripe is inability to set and forget a default playback speed. Never paying for YT Red (yes, not pReMiUm) again.
 
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Color me interested for the tech behind it, I had yesterday night seen that games section (maybe got served the service a few hours ahead of time) and did try Cut The Rope. Quite nice actually.

While it is indeed more clutter I would love to know how it works. Netflix games for example they go through the AppStore (although can be launched directly via Netflix’s app after installed) and can be large (like GTA trilogy or Hades); these ones are seamless direct launch from the app, but for sure not streaming either as there’s no lag, it still felt native also.

infinitedreams said:
Definitely more important than fixing a several year old bug where comments you write get auto deleted after exactly 20 seconds for no reason…
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I think that’s just censoring
 
Hold up, hold up...

When has Netflix been testing putting games on Apple TV? This is the first mention I've seen of this. I know they have been streaming games to other TV platforms, but nothing about Apple TV (which should really be able to play any of these iOS games already out there...) Any proof?
 
amartinez1660 said:
Color me interested for the tech behind it, I had yesterday night seen that games section (maybe got served the service a few hours ahead of time) and did try Cut The Rope. Quite nice actually.

While it is indeed more clutter I would love to know how it works. Netflix games for example they go through the AppStore (although can be launched directly via Netflix’s app after installed) and can be large (like GTA trilogy or Hades); these ones are seamless direct launch from the app, but for sure not streaming either as there’s no lag, it still felt native also.


I think that’s just censoring
Click to expand...
It’s HTML5. Google’s backend service is called Game Snacks.
 
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mansplains said:
Never paying for YT Red (yes, not pReMiUm) again.
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Obviously not defending Google, this just made me wonder: What does anyone gain from "deadnaming" tech when it's rebranded just because we don't like the product? Like, what's the benefit for you to still call it YTRed if you're still gonna have to clarify you're referring to Premium?
 
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diskrisk said:
Obviously not defending Google, this just made me wonder: What does anyone gain from "deadnaming" tech when it's rebranded just because we don't like the product? Like, what's the benefit for you to still call it YTRed if you're still gonna have to clarify you're referring to Premium?
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Ask those who “deadname” X constantly. What I have to gain by mocking the use of premium is pointing out the experience is subpar, and in fact, not premium. Thankfully they didn’t go with “plus” like a lot of other companies.
 
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mansplains said:
Ask those who “deadname” X constantly. What I have to gain by mocking the use of premium is pointing out the experience is subpar, and in fact, not premium. Thankfully they didn’t go with “plus” like a lot of other companies.
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I still call X, twitter.
Probably because X is a stupid name; and if i called it X, people will be more confused than if i called it twitter.
That's the power of branding i guess.

If apple renamed itself to pear tomorrow; people gonna still call it apple.
 
mansplains said:
This type of bloat pushed me to uninstall YT years ago. Using Safari & Vinegar or Brave aren't perfect, but they aren't riddled with performance issues. My main gripe is inability to set and forget a default playback speed. Never paying for YT Red (yes, not pReMiUm) again.
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What’s more, using Safari on my phone, my ad blocker still works on YouTube. Oh, for what it’s worth, I’m trying to reduce the time I spend on YouTube, and I’ve found two very helpful apps for doing so.

BlockYT has a Safari extension that’ll block YouTube shorts, and it also lets you hide comments and recommendations if you want. And I’ve got one sec and its Safari extension set up to trigger on YouTube (in Safari, but you can use Shortcuts to configure a time out with one sec for app launching, too), so I have to wait a moment before I open YouTube.
 
i tried playing cut the rope for a bit yesterday; exactly as i remembered it being a decade ago. It worked pretty okay.
 
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