closing
Latest
Apple closes stores in California and the UK as COVID-19 cases soar
Apple has closed all 53 stores in California and up to 16 across the UK, Tennessee, Brazil and Mexico due to soaring COVID-19 cases in those regions.
Google shutters Bulletin, its hyperlocal news experiment
Google is ending its hyperlocal news experiment Bulletin. Similar to Nextdoor, Bulletin was a blog-like service that allowed users to post stories with video and photo content to the app. People nearby could see those posts, and they could appear in Google Search. The service launched as a pilot in 2018, and now, Google is shutting it down.
Another AR headset startup closes its doors
Augmented reality filters are popping up everywhere -- from the NFL's partnership with Snapchat to YouTube's beauty filters for creators. But AR headsets seem to be struggling. Today, TechCrunch reports that another well-funded AR headset startup is shutting down. Daqri, the company behind the Android-powered smart hard hat, has closed its headquarters, laid off employees and plans to sell its assets.
Anki is closing the doors on its toy robot business
Anki, the startup responsible for adorable robotics, is closing its doors and will terminate nearly 200 employees Wednesday. CEO Boris Sofman broke the news to staff today, Recode reports. In a statement provided to Engadget, the company said, "A significant financial deal at a late stage fell through with a strategic investor and we were not able to reach an agreement."
Razer closes its game store after 10 months
Razer is learning a hard lesson about the challenges of launching a game store. The hardware giant is closing the Razer Game Store on February 28th at 4AM Eastern as part of "realignment plans." It'll still honor pre-orders and notes that games will still work as long as you have their Steam or Uplay keys, but you won't have access to those keys once February is over. From March onward, you'll only get games from Razer through its reward programs.
Gaming guide creator Prima Games is shutting down
Prima Games, the company that's been creating physical video game strategy guides for the past 28 years, is shutting down according to Publisher's Lunch. Prima's publisher DK's CEO Ian Hudson sent out an internal memo saying it was an "extremely difficult decision" and one that was made due to a "significant decline" in the video game guide sector per reports by Publishers Weekly. No more guides will be coming out of Prima Games, and its doors will officially close this coming spring.
CompuServe's still-active forums are finally shutting down
It turns out that Instant Messenger (AIM) isn't the only thing that AOL is shutting down next month. On December 15th, Oath (AOL and Engadget's dear parent) is also closing what remains of the CompuServe forums which, yes, still actually exist. CompuServe had the first ever mainstream online forums well before the internet came along, letting users connect to its central servers via old-school dial-up modems. You can credit (or blame) the company for allowing some of the first online group chats about subjects like investing, politics and religion.
Microsoft reminds us that So.cl exists by closing it down
Microsoft is shutting down So.cl, a quasi-social network launched by its FUSE Labs research division. In case you forgot (admit it, you forgot), it was never intended to be a competitor to Facebook or Twitter. Rather, it's a strange hybrid that let you log in from Facebook, then share searches, images and collages and discuss them with friends. Some of the features were odd -- for instance, you could create a "Video Party" with friends, but it wasn't video chat, just regular chat about video clips.
Snapchat closes its lens filter store despite decent sales
You probably wouldn't give up hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue a month, but then you're not Snapchat. The social app will close down its popular lens store this Friday after opening it just a couple of months ago. As a reminder, with the camera in selfie mode, you can add a variety of free or 99 cent filters that make you a snowball target (above) or let you puke out rainbows, for example. The company will let you keep the lenses you've already bought, of course, and will eventually offer many of the paid lenses for free.
Rdio will transition subscribers to free accounts after November 23rd
Following the news of Rdio's bankruptcy filing and sale to Pandora, the company offered some details on how its users can expect their streaming accounts to ride off into the sunset. Starting November 23rd, the service will no longer accept new customers and current subscribers can expect their accounts to be cancelled on the next billing date. When that happens, you'll still be able to listen to the free ad-supported version of Rdio until it shuts down completely, but the company hasn't given a specific date for that just yet. Rdio plans to let users export their data, including playlists and favorites before it's shuttered for good. The deal with Pandora is set to close in early 2016, and we'd surmise Rdio's brand of streaming will stick around in a limited form until then.
Google Maps Coordinate field-worker tool is closing down
Google's never shy about spiking its services (even popular ones). Today's victim? Google Maps Coordinate. As a refresher (and as the name suggests), this service was designed to help organize teams out in the field. Think sales reps, roadside repair crews etc. and you get the idea. Either way, it's not long for this world. Google sent an email out to users of the service stating it'll be absorbed back into the abyss as of January 21, 2016. Since Coordinate launched in 2012, Google created a broader API for maps which provides similar, more flexible functionality. In fact, if you were to try and sign up for Coordinate now, you'll find yourself being shuffled along directly to the all encompassing Maps for Work API product. Currently a Coordinate subscriber? You may want to check your inbox for further instructions on what happens next. But, the short answer is, you've got a year to figure out how to keep tabs on your crew.
Blacklight: Retribution loses studio, continues on anyway
It turns out that the worst news for an online game -- having its studio close -- may not be the end of the world after all. Zombie Studios, the devs behind multiplayer shooter Blacklight: Retribution, announced today that it's closing shop and that a new studio has arisen from its ashes to take care of the game: "Now it is time for us to part ways and close our doors [...] We want to congratulate and wish nothing but success to Builder Box, the new studio starting up that has acquired some of the work Zombie is parting with, including all rights to Blacklight: Retribution. The new studio is comprised of past Zombie employees that put their hearts into Blacklight and we have no doubt will continue to do so." Builder Box's Facebook page also posted a notice, reaffirming the game's future: "What does this mean for you the fan? While ownership of the game has changed, the people behind the scenes who have been constantly contributing to the Blacklight universe for the last four years remains intact. Builder Box will be working with Perfect World so that, as a fan, you can look forward to more updates and exciting changes in the coming year."
Legend of Silkroad shuts down today
On this final day of 2014, the year apparently cannot resist dragging one last body into the abyss. Legend of Silkroad's operation is ceasing as of today, following an announcement made back on December 24th. The forums and website will also be closed, so if you made friends on the boards, they've already given you alternative contact information. The shutdown announcement cites difficulties on the developer's end, thought whether it means that the studio behind the game shut down altogether or there's simply a lack of communication is unclear. Our condolences to fans of the game affected by the shutdown; hopefully you made some good memories in the game. At least it'll be difficult for any other games to shut down in 2014.
Toontown Online 'homage' illustrates emulator quandary
Disney's Toontown Online was shut down last year, but that hasn't kept fans from working on a so-called "homage" to the game. A team of 24 or so volunteer developers have been working on making Toontown Rewritten with publicly available images and their own skills as programmers and artists. While the team isn't charging players to access the title, its status as a de facto emulator could put it in jeopardy with the Mouse House. Disney hasn't commented on it yet, but copyright attorney Scott Landsbaum noted the quandary that such projects face: "When does a fan homage that is beneficial to your brand cross the line to infringement that can no longer happen?" Analyst Michael Pachter claimed that it was "unusual" for fans to take on such emulator projects, which was rebutted by Raph Koster, who tweeted, "Sorry Pachter, but hasn't EVERY shuttered MMO (and some open ones) been remade by fans?" A similar project for the also-defunct Pirates of the Caribbean Online claims that Disney has given the emulator its blessing.
Sony to shutter two-thirds of its US stores
Sony Electronics is closing 20 of its 31 US-based store locations, the Japanese consumer electronics giant announced this afternoon. The news follows layoffs at Sony affecting approximately 5,000 employees worldwide; it's unclear if European or Asian Sony stores are affected by today's news (we've asked). The announcement release cites Sony's need, "to maintain its competitiveness in an evolving consumer electronics market" as the reason for the closures. The company also sold off its PC business last month, making today's news yet another step in the ongoing restructuring of Sony. The 11 remaining stores are mostly in or near major markets: New York City, Los Angeles, and Orlando and Houston. Sony's two-floor flagship store in New York City is slated to remain open, though the building above it (housing a variety of Sony offices) was sold last year for a cool $1.1 billion. At the time (January 2013), Sony said it'd stay in the building as a renter for "up to" three years.
Facebook shutters its unpopular @facebook.com email service
After three years, Facebook is killing its @facebook.com email service. When it launched in late 2010, Zuckerberg and Co. touted the system's basic approach to messaging (think: no attachment or CC/BCC features). However, in a statement given to The Verge, the outfit confirmed that barely anyone was using the service. If you did use it, though, don't fret: any incoming mail will now be forwarded to your primary email address. [Image credit: Marco Paköeningrat/Flickr]
Legend of Edda closes its doors for good January 22nd
If you'd always meant to check out the cute free-to-play title Legend of Edda but never quite got around to it, you're almost out of luck. GamesCampus has announced that the game is shutting down on January 22nd, 2014. Citing hacking attempts, gold purchasing, and game crashes that created an unstable gaming environment, the studio said "there is no way to continue providing support to the game financially." Legend of Edda closed down temporarily between 2011 and 2012 in order to overhaul and improve the game; unfortunately, this time the closure will be permanent. GamesCampus is currently in the process of working out compensation packages for all players who have been active for the past three months. [Thanks to Mehighlow for the tip!]
Prius Online closes down in South Korea
Whether you think of it as Prius Online or Arcane Saga, the game known to its Korean playerbase as Prius Online has had a hard time keeping the lights on in the West. It's been running for five years over in its native South Korea, though... but no longer. As of December 17th the game will shut down for good, with character creation and the cash shop already disabled for its remaining time. Developer Netmarble has apparently been focusing more upon the mobile market rather than the PC game market, and the game presumably hit the spot of no longer being profitable to keep running. There had been rumors of a sequel, but this could kill any hopes for that as well as any lingering aspirations toward another American revival. It may have died many times before its final death, but it seems like this is finally the end of the road for the game.
The Game Archaeologist: The bizarre death of Wish [Updated]
First of all, "wish" is one of those words that ends up looking dang strange the more you focus on it. Wish, wish, wish, wish. It's just a bunch of meaningless lines and squiggles to me now. Anyway, what's up for today's topic? We're going to look at another MMO that didn't make it to the starting gate even with some genuine enthusiasm and hype surrounding it, and that game is wrrrshhsish. Wish. That game is Wish. While memories of this never-launched title have faded with time, Wish is still remembered for two things: a truly audacious feature set that promised the world and an abrupt, bizarre end that seemed to come out of nowhere. What made this MMO so special and why did it die so young? Our very own Game Archaeologist is on the scene with a special report.
Blockbuster to close stores, end US retail and mail DVD operations
Blockbuster LLC will conclude its US retail and mail DVD efforts "by early-January 2014," a press release from parent company Dish Network Corporation announced this week. Folding Blockbuster's retail operations will involve closing "approximately 300 remaining US-based retail stores, as well as its distribution centers." "Consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment," Dish President and CEO Joseph Clayton said in the press release. "We continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings." Those digital offerings include the Blockbuster @Home service for Dish customers and the general access, individual transaction-based Blockbuster On Demand. Dish will also retain Blockbuster's "key assets, including the company's significant video library." This week's announcement follows the closure of 300 other US retail locations earlier this year, as well as its UK doppelganger's declaration of bankruptcy in October.
