YouTube has games now – here’s how you can access Playables

If you’re wondering how to access games right in YouTube, here’s everything you should know.

It seems like it’s not really possible to be a video app and just stick to video now – just like Netflix before it, YouTube is branching out into letting its users actually play games, rather than just watching others do so.

It’s launched a new test feature called Playables that lets you play games right in its app without additional downloads, and if that sounds interesting, you’re going to want to keep reading to find out all the key details.

What exactly are YouTube Playables?

Playables is a label that YouTube has created for the games that it’s now offering inside the YouTube app or web experience – the feature has only just launched, and is a test for future plans.

YouTube says it’ll run until 28 March 2024 (having started in late November 2023), so it clearly wants to get some decent long-term data on how people use the games.

Playables lets you select and start a mobile game just like you would choose a video to watch on YouTube, with the aim being to reduce that friction to almost nothing.

Who can access YouTube Playables?

This is a key question for now – YouTube Playables is an experimental feature, which means that it’s only available for YouTube Premium subscribers on iOS, Android or the web, which has been the case for other features historically.

Often, these start as user tests that you have to opt into, before becoming standard features for the Premium plan once they’ve been tested (this was the pattern that YouTube used for picture-in-picture mode on iOS, for example).

How to turn on YouTube Playables

If you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber, and you’d like to access Playables, the steps below should work for you to gain access – they did for us!

Turn on YouTube Playables on your phone

1. Open your YouTube app.
2. Tap on your profile picture at the bottom right of the display.
3. Now tap on the settings cog at the top-right of the screen.
4. Tap on Try new features.
5. Scroll down to the Available section, and under Play games on YouTube, select Turn on.

This should activate the feature for you on your YouTube account, although you may find that you have to close and re-open the app to shake it into action and actually see the games.

Turn on YouTube Playables on the web

If you don’t have your phone handy, you can also use the web to turn Playables on.

1. Visit this page on YouTube.
2. Sign in to your account if you’re not already.
3. Under Play games on YouTube, select Turn on

That should have you able to play games – check out the Playables web page to see if you can now access them on the web.

How to play games on YouTube Playables

Once you’ve got access to the test feature, and you’ve turned it on using the steps above, you should start to see Playables in your home page feed just like you would videos.

It appears for the most part like a bank across the display – the same way that YouTube displays its Shorts sections, for example.

You can scroll horizontally through the list to see more options, and tap View All to see the entire list and take your pick.

Once you choose, just tap on the game’s card to start it up, and after waiting for any loading screens or logos, you should be able to jump in and start playing with touch controls on the app or your mouse if you’re on the web.

YouTube Playables game list

YouTube Playables has launched with a relatively solid list of 37 games, although they cover a lot of classic mobile game bases, including pretty close clones of iconic titles like Tetris and more.

Of course, there’s an official Angry Birds title, too, because you can’t really have a mobile gaming library without an Angry Birds title included somewhere.

Here’s the full list of games we have access to on YouTube Playables right now.