telltale games

cambridge analytica

Every year, around this time, we get to fondly look back on the technology that is no longer.  Maybe it was a great idea in the beginning, but then it plummeted to its death quickly.  Or maybe its something that has been around for years, but no longer serves a purpose.  In today’s article, we will be looking at all the technology that is gone forever.

GeoCities

First up, is Yahoo’s GeoCities.  You’re probably thinking, that hasn’t been around since 2009.  Well, in Japan it has managed to live on for almost another 10 years.  Remember how horrible it looked?  But back in the day, it was super easy to make a personal site or to find other people. Japan will now be putting GeoCities to rest in March of 2019.

Sony PlayStation Vita

The Sony PlayStation Vita debuted in 2011.  Which is why it’s no surprise that Sony finally declared that it would stop producing these devices starting in 2019.  After all, handheld gaming devices have changed a lot since it debuted in 2011. What might be more surprising is that Sony has no intention of developing a new, standalone handheld gaming device.

Cambridge Analytica

Of course, the demise of Cambridge Analytica won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following Facebook news in 2018.  If you’ve missed it, Cambridge Analytica is the company that acquired data “improperly” and then used it to influence the 2016 US presidential election. But what you might not know is that it also used data to influence the UK Brexit campaign by selling psychographic profiles for targeted political ads.  The irony is that Facebook is still standing.

Snapcash

The social media company Snap, partnered with Square to launch its peer-to-peer payment service back in 2014, but it didn’t even make it to the five-year mark.  Why?  Likely because there are so many other ways to send money now and people aren’t necessarily thinking about doing it through Snapchat.  That said, Snap announced it was shutting down the service in August.

MoviePass

MoviePass isn’t exactly dead, but its certainly on life support. Or it needs some life support.  What will happen with MoviePass in 2019 is the million dollar question.  If you’re not familiar with MoviePass, they have modified their subscription offerings at least 11 times in the past 7 years.  What might be the worst is that they actually ran out of money for a brief time in 2018.  They have a plan to revive the service offerings under a different company, but they will also need to modify their business model.

Volkswagen Beetle

In 2019 VW plans to stop producing the iconic Beetle.  Normally, I wouldn’t give this too much attention, but the Beetle has been in production since 1938.  This car was number four on the most influential car list, in 1999.  It came in after the Ford Model T, the Mini and the Citroen DS.  But now we say goodbye to this vehicle forever.

Telltale Games

The popular mobile-game studio Telltale Games shut down suddenly this past September.  This came after laying off a number of its staff without any kind of warning.  Which meant, they left the fate of the eagerly anticipated Stranger Things and Walking Dead games up in the air.  Later, Skybound announced that it had picked up the Walking Dead development.