Google Is Building a Secret Social-Gaming Startup Called Arcade

Google is secretly building a social-gaming startup in an effort to create fledgling companies within the internet-search giant. Bloomberg reports: The founder and co-owner of the new firm, called Arcade, is Michael Sayman, according to people familiar with the matter. Sayman is the 21-year-old wunderkind who started as a Facebook intern at age 17 and left that company for Alphabet Inc.'s Google last year. Arcade's first app, slated to debut this summer, will have some elements of a trivia game. A Google spokesperson confirmed the existence of Arcade, saying it was "focused on mobile gaming with friends," without elaborating on specific products. "It's a very early experiment so there aren't many details to share right now." The effort is part of Area 120, a division where select employees can work on small startups that live inside Google. Arcade's games have no tie-in with existing social networks. Users create accounts with their phone numbers, one of the people said. Google is considering it a social-media investment because once a game gets to a certain size, it's something of a social network by itself, this person said.

Sooo.....

[Lab Rat Jason]

not a secret?

Just don't...

[Type44Q]

Just don't go and try to trademark the word "arcade." Capiche, ya Google fucks??

My prediction

[Hognoxious]

It will be shit but quite successful.

Then either they'll drop it or revamp it and then drop it.

Re:

[alvinrod]

I think we should start some kind of betting pool on when this services gets officially axed. $20 gets you a one week block of your choice, with winner taking the pot minus escrow expenses.

Re:

[Actually, I do RTFA]

They already bought the TLD .dev...

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

That's just where they host all their H1-B holders named "Dev"

Phone number

[sit1963nz]

So all I have to do is give google my phone number....ahhh...NO. And no, I don't use any google services on my phone.

Re: Phone number

[Anonymous Coward]

You know who doesn't suffer identity theft? And are incredibly rich?

Amish.

Arcade?

[PPH]

Why not Carousel [imdb.com]?

Arcade?

[DontBeAMoran]

The head of "Project Arcade" is someone who's 21, who never grew up with actual videogame arcades. And the first thing will be a freakin' trivia game?

Why the fuck did they pick the name "arcade" to begin with?

Re:

[molarmass192]

Don't worry about it, when he turns 22 he'll be locked out of his own app [wikipedia.org]. The problem with 17 year olds is they don't understand that time keeps ticking and doesn't stop when you're 21. I kinda get it though, I thought I knew everything when I was 17 too. It took until I turned 25ish for me to realize that I simply didn't know the full extent of my own ignorance.

Re:

[Torvac]

deviceid or phone number pls dont use as identity this will bite you in the ass