Google is reportedly bringing instantly playable online games to YouTube

Stadia, Google’s most recent high-profile foray into gaming, might have been notable flop, but the company isn’t giving up on games just yet; the Wall Street Journal is reporting Google is now looking to incorporate playable online games into YouTube.

The initiative – which Google is reportedly branding Playables – will enable users to instantly play online games via YouTube’s website or via its mobile apps on iOS and Android.

Citing an email sent to Google employees, The Wall Street Journal says the project is currently being testing internally, and that staff are now being invited to participate in the process.

Only one available title, Stack Bounce – a casual arcade game challenging players to smash horizontally stacked bricks with a ball – was highlighted in the publication’s report.

The Playables project is said to be part of YouTube CEO’s Neal Mohan push to find new areas of growth in the wake of declining advertising spending.

This isn’t Google’s first attempt to leverage YouTube to more directly enter the playable gaming arena, of course. Part of the initial pitch for its now-defunct cloud gaming service Stadia was full YouTube integration, enabling users to jump straight into a game as they viewed its trailer or watched a title being played by a streamer. Those grand ambitions were abandoned when Google shut down Stadia in January, just four years after its launch.

Google’s new Playables initiative comes as other video on-demand companies, including Netflix and Amazon, continue making inroads into the playable gaming sector. The Wall Street Journal offered no information on when Playables might be targeting a public launch, however.

“Gaming has long been a focus at YouTube,” a Google spokesman told the publication . “We’re always experimenting with new features, but have nothing to announce right now.”