Google's immersive 360-degree Spotlight Stories make their way to YouTube

Google’s Spotlight Stories, which first appeared on the original Motorola Moto X, have just made their way to YouTube. Spotlight Stories are short animated videos that are specifically meant to be viewed on mobile devices and with virtual reality headsets, such as Google Cardboard. They’re interactive, too, which really helps bring these stories to life.

Along with the launch of the Spotlight Stories YouTube channel, Google has released a new holiday-themed story called Special Delivery. Special Delivery was made by the Academy Award-winning studio Aardman Animations, who are the creators of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. In my opinion this is the best Spotlight Story that’s been released thus far, and it’s definitely worth checking out. Here’s the full description if you’re wondering what it’s all about.

Find yourself following the adventures of a humble caretaker, who is disturbed by a mysterious stranger on the roof. Who’s there? And the chase begins… room to room… up and down… somehow, mysteriously, just out of sight. But the elusive stranger is always one step ahead, leaving behind only a trail of gifts…

Currently there are only three videos available on the Google Spotlight Stories YouTube channel – the new Special Delivery animated short, a small teaser, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Special Delivery. Obviously there will be more added in the future, and we can’t wait to see what’s coming up next.

Back in May Google released a Spotlight Stories application to the Play Store that acted as a central hub for all new and existing Spotlight Stories. That app hasn’t been updated in quite some time, though, so it looks like the new YouTube channel is the direction in which Google is now going.

It should be noted that the full interactive experience on YouTube is currently only optimized for a small handful of devices. You can find the list of compatible devices in the video description for the Special Delivery video on YouTube. Interested in checking these out for yourself? Follow the link below to subscribe to the Spotlight Stories YouTube channel.