Where do new Google products come from? Occasionally, they come from the company's experimental incubator, Area 120. One of the biggest projects to come out of it is GameSnacks, which was integrated into Chrome and geared towards people with low memory on slow connections. Lots of projects that were cooking there, though, will now never see the light of day — and not because they flopped, but rather, because Google just cut funding to the project.
The company reportedly informed a number of teams within Area 120 that their projects will be either reorganized or canceled, as per Bloomberg and TechCrunch. 14 projects were last housed in Area 120, but as part of this move, that number will be brought down to just seven. Among the terminated projects is Qaya, a service that would've allowed creators to set up storefronts to sell goods and services.
Members of the affected teams were told to find new roles within Google by January 2023, or else, they'll be terminated from the company. Google recruiters will help relocate the affected employees. Back in July, the company announced a hiring freeze as a response to the current global economic outlook and preparation for a possible recession — it looks like Google's woes are continuing internally.
In a statement by a Google spokesperson, the company said that "Area 120 is an in-house incubator for experimental new products. The group regularly starts and stops projects with an eye toward pursuing the most promising opportunities," and that "we’ve recently shared that Area 120 will be shifting its focus to projects that build on Google’s deep investment in AI and have the potential to solve important user problems. As a result, Area 120 is winding down several projects to make way for new work. Impacted team members will receive dedicated support as they explore new projects and opportunities at Google."
Area 120 will continue existing with a reduced scope, but we wouldn't be surprised if Google goes forward with more measures like this if the world economy keeps worsening.