Nearly two decades after it was launched, Yahoo Games will cease to entertain people as the company has officially axed the service.
Come May 13, Yahoo Games' fans can get ready to bid adieu to the games portal as the company finally pulls the plug on the service.
On Friday, Yahoo Inc. revealed via a statement that it would be closing down Games. However, this is not the only service being axed as Yahoo is also shutting down video chat mobile app Livetext and Build your Own Search Service (BOSS) APIs, as well as some smaller regional media properties.
The decision is made in a bid to focus on the eight core services - Search, Mail, Tumblr, Sports, News, Flickr, Lifestyle and Finance.
"As part of our efforts to focus on select areas, the Yahoo Games site and publishing channel will be discontinued as of Friday, May 13, 2016," said Yahoo's Chief Architect Amotz Maimon.
Friday the 13th will not bode well for the Games portal and its fate is now sealed. Yahoo has asked developers of games to stop taking payments from people starting Monday. BOSS and Livetext will cease to be operational on March 31.
The regional media properties will be closed in the coming weeks. This includes Yahoo Astrology, which will close in India, Spain, the UK, France and Germany.
Yahoo Maktoob News - both the English and Arabic versions - will see the Weather, Sports, Celebrity, Helwa, Style and Movies will be closing down.
This is not the first time Yahoo has shut down some of its services. In June 2015, the company pulled the plug on Maps, Pipes, as well as the GeoPlanet & PlaceSpotter APIs.
Yahoo's announcement of closing down the Games portal does not come as a surprise as it was nearing its end as the popularity diminished. Moreover, Yahoo had removed a bulk of the games in March 2014 due to security concerns.
Additionally, a large number of games on the portal ran on Java and Flash - both are platforms which have been under scrutiny due to security concerns. Moreover, Flash gaming is not popular anymore - largely due to the popularity of mobile games and a decline of Flash.
Therefore, it is for the best that Yahoo ended the platform's existence.
Yahoo could also be shutting down the Games portal because the company itself is in shambles. Some reports have even hinted that it could be sold in the near future.
