Last week, Google announced that the end of Google URL Shortener is near. Shortened “goo.gl” web links will cease to function on August 25, 2025, except for those generated by Google's own web tools.

In the meantime, interstitial pages warning users of the approaching linkpocalypse will begin to appear with a percentage of affected links, telling visitors that the link they clicked on will “cease to function in the near future.” This percentage will increase until it is shut down. According to Google, not many people actually see this: “over 99%” of goo.gl links have stopped being clicked in the past month.

This news follows Google's announcement that it plans to discontinue its link-shortening service in 2018. The company stated that “many popular URL shortening services have emerged and dramatically changed the way people find content on the Internet.” Google has instructed developers to migrate to Firebase Dynamic Links, a service it took over when it acquired Firebase in 2014.

The only problem is that Google has deprecated it too; Google now tells developers to use other deep linking services for their link shortening needs, but of course warns that they are not vetted. provided links will also cease to function on August 25, 2025.

The end of Google link shortening may not be of much relevance to the average PC gamer, but it is a notable example of Google services being sent to the grave (there is even a website to track them!)

[10] [11 Of course, let's not forget poor Stadia, Google's attempt at cloud gaming, which shut down last January largely because it couldn't find market share.