YouTube is expanding its offerings to Premium subscribers, adding a few new experimental features for its paying members to try out. The video-hosting and streaming service already has a major presence in gaming, but now YouTube Premium members can actually play games on YouTube, without any downloads. The platform has rolled out ‘Playables,’ a new collection of over 30 arcade games that can be played on the YouTube app on Android, iOS, and Web.
YouTube Premium members received a notification for new features on the app over the last week. Paying subscribers now have the option to enable Playables on the platform and start playing games instantly without needing to download them.
To play games on YouTube, launch the app on Android or iOS, or head to the YouTube website on Web. Users can find a Playables shelf by scrolling down on the homepage or find the Playables option in the explore menu on the app. Make sure, however, to turn on the Play games on YouTube option on the experimental new features page. This can also be accessed on the YouTube app on mobile by tapping on your profile icon on the bottom right, scrolling down to ‘Your Premium benefits’, and then tapping on ‘Try experimental new features.’
Playables currently features 37 games, which include action games like Angry Birds Showdown and Cannon Balls 3D, puzzle titles like Daily Crossword and Brain Out, and card games like Daily Solitaire and Gin Rummy. It’s also worth noting that the Playables feature is available to Premium members until March 28. The arcade service could later see a wider rollout to subscribers and add more premium games in the future, like the Netflix Games service.
In addition to Playables, YouTube has also added AI-powered comments summaries as part of new experimental features for Premium subscribers. Available until December 5, this feature uses AI to organise and summarise published comments on YouTube videos with large comment sections. To use this feature, users can choose to sort of topics on any comments section on the YouTube Android and iOS apps. Notably, users can only enable one of the two new experimental features at a time. So, to access AI comment summaries, you’ll have to disable the Playables feature.
Earlier this month, YouTube expanded its enhanced bitrate offering on 1080p videos to Premium users. Initially introduced only on iOS, the feature is now available on Android devices and smart TVs.
YouTube Premium in India costs Rs. 1,290 for a 12-month plan, while a three-month plan comes in at Rs. 399. A one-month pre-paid plan is available for Rs. 139, while a recurring monthly subscription for YouTube Premium costs Rs. 129 per month after a one-month free trial.
Google I/O 2023 saw the search giant repeatedly tell us that it cares about AI, alongside the launch of its first foldable phone and Pixel-branded tablet. This year, the company is going to supercharge its apps, services, and Android operating system with AI technology. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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