And if Google had any sense, those were all improvements they should have just brought to Hangouts, haha.

But why improve a service when we can just create a competitor that does 2 things better, 5 things worse, and 1 crucial thing not at all?

I have no idea how they could omit Hangouts.

Allo, on the other hand, which was supposed to replace Hangouts, did not live as long as Hangouts and should probably remain forgotten.

Do serial killers normally break out the tape measure before cutting into a victim?

Don’t forget that Crunchyroll is also owned by Sony, who have basically picked up a monopoly on anime streaming services by buying out all of the competition. Aniplex, Funimation, Crunchyroll, Kadokawa, all under the Sony umbrella.