Google Workspace goes all-in on hybrid work with Playspace acquisition

Google is snapping up the team behind the now-defunct Mailbox email client on iOS and Mac.

What you need to know

• Google Workspace has agreed to acquire Playspace, a dedicated platform for virtual meetings and collaboration.
• Playspace will be integrated into Workspace as a new experience.
• It will switch off access to the service next week, and all customer data will be wiped out.

Google is acquiring Playspace, a collaborative platform for virtual meetings, brainstorming, and hangouts. Playspace has confirmed that it has signed a definitive agreement to join Google Workspace and the many tools it has to offer on the best laptops and Android phones.

In a statement provided to Android Central, a Google spokesperson confirmed the company’s latest move:

We’ve entered into an agreement to acquire Playspace as part of Google Workspace. Playspace is led by a talented team that shares our vision for delivering solutions that support the hybrid future of work.

We’ll keep you posted when we have more to share.

The startup said it launched preview access to a few teams in April in preparation for Playspace’s global rollout. However, late last year, the rebranding of G Suite into Workspace opened a new opportunity for the firm to join Google.

Playspace explains in its blog post:

Along the way we learned about what Javier and the Workspace team are up to at Google.

It sounded more than a little exciting: here was a widely adopted platform, built atop one of the world’s most advanced tech stacks, ready and eager to evolve to meet the needs of remote collaboration…

Javier invited us to be part of their journey in building solutions for the hybrid future of work — and the opportunity has us positively giddy.

Playspace is somewhat similar to Google Meet but with a focus on collaborative work. It features a left sidebar containing three sections, each showing your meetings for the day, contacts (People), and Rooms. The latter is where you’ll see whiteboards, scratchpads, and music that lets all group members listen to the same song.

It also has a Magic Screenshare tool that lets your colleagues access your desktop “for collaborative editing and annotation.” There’s Slack integration as well, so you can quickly join rooms. Other features include recordings, live streaming, and the ability to create and join rooms directly from Google Calendar events.

Playspace said it would turn off access to the service on September 9 and wipe all data. Active users should expect to receive an email notification about exporting their data before that day. At the moment, it’s not clear how Playspace will fit into Google’s plans for Workspace apps like Google Meet.

The team behind the platform was responsible for the Mailbox email client on iOS and Mac.