Why are popular apps becoming gaming platforms?

All your applications are becoming gaming platforms. As competition for user attention intensifies, apps like YouTube, Netflix, and Microsoft Teams are venturing into the lucrative gaming industry. YouTube is officially testing games within the platform called 'Playable'.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that YouTube had started testing its new gaming initiative, 'Playable', with the public. The video platform updated its list of tests and experimental features to announce that a limited number of users can now try these “games that can be played directly on YouTube on both desktop and mobile devices.”

We first heard about Playable in June through an internal Google email read by the Wall Street Journal, inviting employees to try it out. Gaming is one of the few forms of media that YouTube has not yet expanded into; He has already ventured into podcasting, short videos, shopping, music, television, film, and more. So if you really want to become a one-stop shop for every entertainment format, gaming is the next logical step.

However, it is by far the only platform that has added games to its arsenal in recent months. After the success of its 'Choose Your Adventure ‘-style series in the late 2010s, Netflix hired an executive to oversee a new gaming division.

He then began creating his mobile games in 2021, some of which are themed after Netflix's biggest hit shows like Stranger Things, The Queen's Gambit, and The Walking Dead, while others are reboots of pre-existing games like Samurai Shod own. These games are available for download in app stores as standalone apps that can be launched through the Netflix platform.

However, last month, the streaming service began its first public tests of cloud-streamed games that can be played on television or on the web. It also began hiring a team to develop its own “AAA PC game,” with the former creative director of Halo Infinite as creative director.

Last summer, TikTok began adding mini-games to the video platform, available to select users, to test the waters of its gaming initiative. In February, it launched a live trivia game called "TikTok Trivia," where users could follow the game on the live channel, answering questions and getting the chance to split the prize money at the end. There have also been rumors that he is working on a feature that would allow creators to interact with fans while live-streaming their gameplay within the app.

But it is not exclusively entertainment platforms that are exploring games. Microsoft Teams introduced the "Games for Work" app last November, which allows professionals to play "SFW" games like Solitaire and Minesweeper together to help "foster work connections." Just a few weeks ago, a Teams widget was added to the Xbox Game Bar, allowing users to stream their gameplay through the business app.

So why are all these platforms diversifying into the $250 billion gaming industry? The obvious answer would be additional sources of income.

Nowadays, all apps and services compete with each other for your valuable time and attention. While this may be obvious in the cases of Netflix, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime, these streaming players also count social media apps like TikTok and Instagram as their opponents.

All the squares of your smartphone are prepared to absorb any activity you currently do outside of its platform, including games. In a 2019 quarterly earnings report, Netflix said, "We compete (and lose) with Fortnite more than we do with HBO."

Louise Wooldridge, director of gaming research at market research firm Ampere Analysis, told TechHQ: “Non-gaming companies often only excel in one area of the value chain: for example, they have the large infrastructure or technological capabilities or possess popular, original IP. Very few have all the necessary components up front to establish a successful gaming business right away.

"Today, companies constantly and intensely compete for our attention, which has become increasingly valuable as various types of media and entertainment have become more accessible and diverse."

“In this way, diversifying into games is a way to keep consumers within the company's own ecosystem, offering them everything they want or need on a single platform or hub. Including games can also be a point of differentiation from other content or service providers”.