On behalf of Google, it was essentially the corporate edition of the well-known situation when a developer lets a website of his "decay" to the point of being unusable, due to not having time, money, interest, or any combination of these, and when notices the abysmal state, doesn't bother much and shuts it down.

Not particularly good or bad of a move, it's just surprising that such a huge company, especially one that tries to grab money wherever it can, lets it happen. Million dollars down the drain.