Google kills off virtual world Lively

Google is scrapping Lively, its virtual reality rival to Second Life, just four months after launching the service. The company plans to shut down Lively at the end of the year.

The internet company says the retreat has been spurred by the need to sharpen its focus on its primary business in internet search and advertising, as the company’s revenue growth slows in the deteriorating economy.

“We’ve also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks, not every bet is going to pay off,” Google wrote in a blog post.

Google introduced Lively in July, an online virtual room that could be embedded into a blog or website with users able to stream content from their rooms.

At the time, Google said that advertisers could use Lively rooms as an extension of their websites to allow consumers to engage “more deeply with the brand”.