Craighton's Logic

Google Pac-Man Cost Workers Over $120 Million

Posted by on May 26, 2010 | 22 Comments

Last week Google changed its logo to a playable game of Pac-Man. During the time that the population of Google users found this collective productivity would took a sharp plunge.

The time management tool RescueTime did the calculations and determined that Google Pac-Man caused 4,819,352 hours of down time, which, if you take pay into account, $120,483,800 in productivity was lost to this game.

The cost was calculated by looking at how much time was spent on Google’s homepage the day the Pac-Man logo was up versus the average amount of time spent on other days and multiplied by the number of visitors to the site that day.

The cost seems like a bit of a stretch, though. RescueTime assumed that the average Google user makes $25 per hour. Also, you probably can’t assume that everyone who visited the site was on the clock at work. So you can give or take only a couple of million, but that still leaves a lot of time wasted.

If you haven’t had the time to waste yet, Google still has the game up and available if you wish to play it at http://google.com/pacman.

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    • http://www.robabdul.com Rob Abdul

      I was tempted to play, but carried on working!

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  • D

    I read this figure the day after it was put on the page. At first…I was amazed by the number…but after thinking about what they were judging…there was no way it could be correct. As it was pointed out…those at home who played it. Those at work…there wasn’t that much productivity lost as mentioned. The reason…most supervisors monitor computer use by the minute. Many of those were played on break…but for the others…who would have had the time with a supervisor/manager hanging over your head.

    Usually…studies like this are thrown out there to make supervisors/manager feel guilty they’re not “better” slave drivers. If it’s the supervisors/managers racking up this time while busting their employees for doing the same thing…something is wrong.

  • Mark

    Getting a little tired of all their ‘artsy-fartsy’ logo creations.
    Get serious, Google! Your original logo is just fine…Don’t
    bother me with this silliness…

  • llsee

    What crap. Some company dreams up a number, and calls a press conference in hopes of getting mentions in the press and on blogs. There is no real evidence to support this claim. They just picked a number out of thin air, the bigger the better. Looks like they succeeded. You mentioned them, and even provided a link.

  • Greg

    Just curious how this cost WORKERS money. Did everyone clock out before playing? If not, it seems as though it cost EMPLOYERS money.

    - An Employer

    • http://logiclounge.com Craighton Miller

      they are getting paid but because no one is working that is a loss of money because no one is working on anything and that is going to be extra money and hours to get work done

  • Anonymous

    I would have been interested, but I don’t think I can afford it. What I said last year, I know.

    I’m tempted to check out second hand iPad 1 prices…

  • Anonymous

    Yes, the Apple Digital AV Adapter will work on older devices, but it won’t do 1080p and mirror what’s on the screen like the iPad 2. It will only do 720p. Also, it will only work on slideshows and movies, which is the same as the current AV output for the older devices. From the Apple website:

    “Use the Apple Digital AV Adapter to mirror whatever’s on your iPad 2 screen — apps, presentations, websites, and more — on your HDTV or HDMI-compatible display in up to 1080p HD (movies play at up to 720p).

    Watch slideshows and movies on the big screen in up to 720p by connecting your iPad, iPhone 4, or iPod touch (4th generation) to an HDTV or HDMI-compatible display.”

    • Anonymous

      I was afraid what you stated is true. It would have been nice to mirror iPhone 4 and get hulu and angry bird like games on big screen

    • Anonymous

      Dam you apple! I want to mirror iPhone 4

  • http://twitter.com/DarkSideGeek Bill Houle

    If the iPad2 had no camera(s), then I’d agree with your “spend time transferring the footage” iMovie comment. However, I believe their intent is that you *take* the footage from the iPad, and then edit it right there. Ditto for stills in Photo Booth.

    I agree with your assessment in general. If I needed FaceTime (or iMovie), I’d be lining up to upgrade. As it stands, I don’t _need_ it, but am nonetheless fighting a strong urge.

    BTW, I think one upsell is exposing PC users to Mac mainstays like Garage Band and iMovie, and lure more to the Apple desktop/laptop platform – the halo effect, but now via the software rather than the hardware.

  • http://odayyousif.wordpress.com Oday Yousif

    I’m not trying to hat and I don’t know if your an anti Apple person or not but it just seems to me anyone who hates Apple and/or the iPad will always finding something bad to say about their products.

    • http://www.myunv.com/ Sunny Singh

      And what’s wrong with that? Apple is not perfect, and their products aren’t either. Angelo is simply voicing their opinion, and that perhaps the iPad 2 is not as great a leap between itself and the original iPad. Any good company (and its users) will want great feedback and criticism like this to improve. You want a better iPad, don’t you?

      I’m also not trying to hate, but many Apple fans tend to say something bad about any product not made by Apple.

  • http://cmsexpo.net/ CMS Expo

    Fair enougn, Chris. I think you’ve got a point for the folks thinking of upgrading. The real sales will come from folks who were waiting for 2nd gen before buying their first tablet. Me? I’m keeping my iPad AND getting an iPad2. Gonna hinge ‘em together into an iPadwich.

  • Anonymous

    The hdmi dongle only mirrors ipad2 and it only plays audio and video on select apps on all other devices.

  • http://twitter.com/clozeone clozeone

    Found this article by chance. I just wanted to say, Garageband works on the iPad 1. Checked it myself.

  • uberRegenbogen

    Until their OS grows to eat up all of their systems’ resources (for very a relatively tiny return).

  • http://twitter.com/MichaelHostiuck Michael Hostiuck

    Use your excess computer power to fold. http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Stats

  • http://twitter.com/DyCymraes Dylene Cymraes

    Great ideas. Sometimes it helps just knowing that it’s not something a writer faces alone–when you have to rely on creativity to work, it can be frustrating when it doesn’t surface easily. (Like you don’t know that, sorry, preaching to the choir!)

  • http://twitter.com/crcruz3 Carlos R. Cruz

    So you don’t believe that fiat money is a good thing? Me neither. Cheers.