That Was Quick: Google Kills Virtual World 'Lively' (GOOG)

Google (GOOG) is killing its virtual world, Lively, after less than five months, to focus more on its "core search, ads and apps business."

Smart move, given the rotting economy and pressure for Google to control costs and hit its numbers. One easy way to help both of those: Pull resources away from silly, unnecessary side projects.

(Wonder what else is on the chopping block. Let us know.)

From Google:

In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways. Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. But we've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.

That's why, despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we've decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business. Lively.com will be discontinued at the end of December, and everyone who has worked on the project will then move on to other teams.

We'd encourage all Lively users to capture your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms.

See Also:
Will Google's Lively Turn Into A Virtual Arcade?
Is Sex Coming To Google's Lively After All?
Google: No Sex in Second Life-Killer Lively