
Yahoo announces plans to kill off Games, Livetext, Boss, and more regional sites - hornbaker
http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/11/yahoo-announces-plans-to-kill-off-games-livetext-boss-and-more-regional-sites/
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jibberia
I've got some nostalgia for Yahoo Games. Here's an anecdote I've posted
elsewhere:

I was on a phone interview to be a software engineer for a web game company in
~2013. The interview went very well. At the end I asked what I'd be working
on, and they said blackjack.

I said, "Didn't Yahoo solve that problem in the 90s?"

I didn't get a call back.

~~~
visakanv
I particularly enjoyed this tetris-style game called Yahoo! Towers, which had
powerups and a great multiplayer. I would bug my friends to learn to play it
so we could all play it together. It was great.

Edit: Just found a video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwdLR-9bky4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwdLR-9bky4)

~~~
AndyNemmity
I played another game like this when I was younger, it was multi player tetris
with powerups, but not this.

It was so enjoyable to play, was hoping your link would be it but alas I don't
think so. I remember it being a game client as well.

Edit: found it, Tetrinet!

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parfe
Anyone complaining when google shuts down bum projects need to remember this.
Yahoo let divisions fester along leaching resources from the company with no
clear path to anything. When google cuts a project, even if you _super
seriously love it_ , they prevent an announcement like this.

~~~
Jordrok
Not sure I understand your point. Shutting things down early prevents them
from being shut down later?

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chrisgd
Shutting things down early prevents a drain on company resources and
preventing future layoffs. . . hopefully

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mathattack
Without analyzing any of the specific cuts, it is a brave move to cut
divisions as well as people. Too often companies just say "Everyone bears
their share of the 15% cuts" without changing priorities. It's rare to say,
"Let's stop doing certain things" and make the cuts that way.

~~~
shostack
An aside, but I wonder how much of that behavior, particularly in the 2008ish
period, has contributed to wages stagnating.

If you are getting paid peanuts, and not getting raises because "you should be
lucky to have a job" and then you get forced to do even more work, and they
don't hire more people because you're gritting your teeth and taking it, wage
stagnation seems a pretty obvious outcome.

~~~
mathattack
Wages generally stagnate in bad economies as a result of what you've said.

Even when I haven't been on the market, I've been paid the best when multiple
firms are potentially competing for my services. When I'm in the market,
having 2 offers in hand increases the value of both.

~~~
shostack
And wages don't exactly catch up enough to make up the gap in good economies.

I wish there were better wage information out there for people. Glassdoor is
just a start, but there's such an advantage to be had by companies maintaining
the information asymmetry that I doubt it will change anytime soon.

~~~
mathattack
Indeed. I was listening to a podcast this morning [0] on the topic. They
highlight that salaries should be public, with clear paths to more money. I'm
not sure if that would work, but your point is valid.

Glassdoor is ok, but not great because it generally only contains base
salaries, and doesn't have enough data on smaller companies. I know that
investment banking and consulting salaries are dramatically under-represented
on it.

H1-B filing databases are another data point, but suffer the same limitations.

The only sure thing is to test the market. If you get multiple offers,
eventually they will close in on your true worth. It's a very delicate game to
play, because you have to make sure people know you are interested without
appearing disingenuous.

[0] [https://hbr.org/ideacast/2016/03/your-coworkers-should-
know-...](https://hbr.org/ideacast/2016/03/your-coworkers-should-know-your-
salary)

~~~
shostack
Weird--HN didn't give me the option to reply directly to this before so I
assumed it was the thread limit.

In any event, here's what I wrote a level up: \-------

I found it ironic that you cited the investment banking and legal industries
not being well represented on Glassdoor. I'm actually not sure where they get
the data from, but my brother is an ibanker, and I have several friends and
family members that are lawyers. Salaries across banks and firms seem to be
VERY well known across the industry at all levels, even for entry-level roles,
and seem to be openly discussed.

I wonder what sort of unique dynamics led to that vs. other industries and how
we can capture some of it to level the playing field. It definitely leads to a
more level playing field for employees since they know they are either signing
up for better pay or something else, and it forces companies to compete on pay
and/or some other aspect, and then make that publicly known.

~~~
brianwawok
I know when my lawyer friend goes to get a new lawyer job he has to submit
transcripts and pay proof from at least his last two jobs. Then they offer
current job pay + x.

As a dev I have never had to submit past wages. Never felt the need to lie
about past wages, but I know of people who have. Little bit different for
sure.

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drakenot
End of an era regarding Yahoo Games. I remember many long hours playing Yahoo
Chess and Yahoo Pool when I was in school.

~~~
giancarlostoro
I think Facebook was to blame for it's loss in popularity, then it became cell
phone Apps. Those who didn't adapt their web based games into the mobile
market missed out. Flappy Bird got really popular, but there was always that
flash game about the helicopter that was more or less very similar.

~~~
yeukhon
Oh no, Games lost its traction long before that. I went on blogging, going to
forum, playing flash games, GTA, myspace, youtube, etc. Pool was really fun.
Games allows you to talk to players and to me that was a game changer back
then. simple interface and very stable gaming experience.

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yeukhon
Yahoo Games was one of the best. I used to play games there when I was in
elementary school (I am the 90s kid). Pool, poker, etc. But when I clicked on
Yahoo Games the catalog reminds me of the hundreds of smartphone games in
Android / iOS store that I don't want to play. What happened to the simple
pool game graphic? Chess game?

What else? Those Flash games out there!

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jacquesm
Limb amputation will not save the body I'm afraid. Interesting that they can't
find buyers at any price for those resources.

~~~
campuscodi
They could. But it wouldn't look good in a headline that reads: "Yahoo sold
off Games division for $200,000" Cause I wouldn't imagine someone paying more
than that.

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byron_fast
Yahoo! Store has been rebranded to
[https://www.aabacosmallbusiness.com/ecommerce](https://www.aabacosmallbusiness.com/ecommerce)
which I assume means it is for sale or will be, but I haven't read any news to
that effect.

~~~
charlesdm
AABACO SMALL BUSINESS. That's just perfect branding.

All aboard the SpinCo!

See
[http://yahoosmallbusiness.tumblr.com/post/109624934574/yahoo...](http://yahoosmallbusiness.tumblr.com/post/109624934574/yahoo-
small-business-update) \- the deal/transaction that fell through.

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minouye
Will the Boss shutdown affect Duck Duck Go?

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AznHisoka
I sure hope they took their investment money to build their own crawler -
there's really no excuse not to. Much cheaper smaller companies with smaller
budgets have written one.

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rnernento
The fact that I have no idea what any of these are probably explains their
kill off. Sad times now and sadder times coming for Yahoo.

~~~
giancarlostoro
I did, they were active before Facebook had games, then when cell phone Apps
dominated the market it all changed. Microsoft has similar services, if they
still do. Microsoft shifted their focus completely towards developers recently
and they will benefit from it, not sure what I would do if I were Yahoo other
than close down anything not worth it's dollar.

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junto
Yahoo games seems like an odd choice. I think that lies of older people
frequent that.

My parents for example spend lots of time after checking their Yahoo Email
playing mahjong and various other games on there.

Now I'll get asked where they can turn to next to get their games fix!

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vessenes
This is one of the key requests made by advocate investors last year, although
they wanted much deeper pruning. It seems like a good plan to me. I'm curious
what's next.

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jstnjosepht
Any idea what will happen to the games? From the posts here it seems it would
be a good idea to archive them somehow

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TrebleNuts
"Bye Marissa" is the new "Bye Felicia."

