Well, to be honest, if you chose Python you were kind of looked down on as a bit of a loser() at Google, so there was really two languages: C++ and Java.

Weeeell, to be honest, if you chose Java you would not be working on anything that was really performance critical so there was really just one language: C++.

So we wrote lots and lots of servers in C++. Even those who strictly speaking didn't have to be very fast. That wasn't the nicest experience in the world. Not least because C++ is ancient and the linking stage would end up being a massive bottleneck during large builds. But also because C++ has a lot of sharp edges. And while the bro coders would never admit that they were wasting time looking over their shoulder, the grown ups started taking this seriously as a problem. A problem major enough to warrant having some really good people look into remedying that.

So yes, at Google, Go did replace lots of C++ and did so successfully.

() Yes, that sentiment was expressed. Sometimes by people whose names would be very familiar to you.