No Google, Malaysia is Not 69 Years Old

Oops. Looks like Google’s made quite a blunder with its National Day 2014 promotion on Google Play.

So, here’s the thing. Malaysia is celebrating its National Day on August 31, and this year, the nation is 57 years old. Somehow, Google thinks we will be turning 69 come this Sunday. Don’t believe us? Here’s a screenshot of the Google Play Store’s promotion for our Independence Day:

The header image you see was extracted from the website. You can also see this error on the mobile site, both of which are still online:

Even when you consider the “true” national day – 16 September 1963 – that still does not make the nation 69 years old!

EDIT: Here are the countries celebrating their 69th year of independence: the Netherlands, Vietnam and our close neighbours, Indonesia.

Back to the promotion itself, it appears Google Play is picking the “Top 20 Malaysian-liked games” to “reward loyal Malaysia gamers”. But of the 20 games listed in the promotion, we’re pretty sure most of these games are already free to begin with, and in-app purchases are controlled by the developers, not Google.

So…what’s the promotion about?

[Update @ August 27, 11pm] Looks like Google has taken down the errors on the page. The promotion page is now simply a plain green background, while mobile users can no longer find the promotion on the front page of the Play Store.

(Source: Google Play via Coconuts KL)