HQ Trivia, the company behind the once popular live mobile trivia game, is shutting down

New York (CNN Business)It's over for HQ Trivia. — The company behind the once popular live mobile trivia game is shutting down, CNN Business has learned. HQ will part ways with 25 full-time employees.

CNN 2020-02-15 Kerry Flynn

Context & Ripple Effects

HQ Trivia's collapse was a two-year unwind, not a sudden event. By late 2018 the company was already contending with its app's fading popularity, a rushed push to ship a next game, and an HR complaint against its new CEO. Mid-2019 brought deeper trouble: sources reported HQ laid off roughly 20% of its staff while preparing a $9.99/month subscription service — an attempt to convert a viral, ad-supported audience into recurring revenue.

First-order effects

The shutdown puts all 25 remaining full-time employees out of work and takes one of the best-known live mobile games of the late 2010s off the air entirely.

Second-order effects

The shutdown proved temporary: within weeks an undisclosed investor acquired the company and relaunched it with another show airing, signaling that HQ's brand and format still carried acquisition value even after the operating business failed.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, viral live-entertainment apps that cannot convert peak attention into durable revenue become serially traded distressed assets — shut down, bought cheaply, and relaunched under new ownership rather than allowed to disappear outright.

The trend: Live mobile entertainment built on viral novelty is consolidating around a boom-bust-revival cycle, where failed engagement businesses get recycled as cheap brand acquisitions.

Discussion

@kerrymflynn @kerrymflynn on x
HQ CEO Rus Yusupov just sent a note to staffers (25 full-time employees): “This is one of the hardest things to do in my life, and I'm really sorry for any disruption this may cause you and our players.” https://www.cnn.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@rus @rus on x
With HQ we showed the world the future of TV. We didn't get to where we hoped but we did stretch the world's imagination for what's possible on our smartphones. Thanks to everyone who helped build this and thanks for playing.
@willjamieson93 Will Jamieson on x
It's sad to see HQ Trivia go they were innovators in the space of interactive TV. We quickly followed them with the launch of The Q and saw the demand for interactive experiences. Shortly after launch, we notice a couple of things.
@waxpancake Andy Baio on x
In 902 days, HQ Trivia went from app launch to explosive smash success to complete collapse. At its peak in March 2018, it had 2.4 million concurrent players. It shut down today and laid off all staff. https://www.theverge.com/...
@joshconstine Josh Constine on x
HQ Trivia serves as a lesson that apps must evolve & founders can't rest upon finding momentary success https://techcrunch.com/...
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
Wow, HQ Trivia is shutting down. Probably the most chaotic/complicated startup I have ever covered https://www.cnn.com/...
@mollywood Molly Wood on x
That was arguably kind of a long 15 minutes. https://twitter.com/...
@joshconstine Josh Constine on x
HQ Trivia peaked in Feb 2018 with 2M downloads. Last month? Just 68K. The startup never recovered from this botched coup https://techcrunch.com/...
@lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x
I was just thinking the other day, “Remember when we were all obsessed with HQ?” Guess not. https://twitter.com/...
@peterstringer Peter Stringer on x
2 years ago this thing exploded on the scene. Crazy how quickly things can change. https://twitter.com/...
@chillmage @chillmage on x
ugh, I would have loved to run HQ Trivia. give it to me. let me run the company https://twitter.com/...
@mahaniok Ihar Mahaniok on x
Sad outcome. It was a great product back in 2018. But didn't iterate to grow enough. https://twitter.com/...
@barstoolnate Nate Blogg on x
This is wild. At old Barstool HQ we were so early on it, playing when there were like 300 people per game. Then it blew way up, hundreds of thousands of people were playing every game. And now it's dead. 902 days. https://twitter.com/...
@tjmule TJ Muehleman on x
Great reminder that viral growth ain't the cure all founders think that it is. https://twitter.com/...
@heyitsliore @heyitsliore on x
I quit playing HQ Trivia once I learned the company was funded by Peter Thiel, but I'm super surprised that apparently lots of other folks stopped playing too. https://twitter.com/...
@liamseskis Liam on x
RIP to my childhood money making schemes. https://twitter.com/...
@jmj Jeff Morris Jr on x
HQ Trivia shutting down — few lessons: 1. Don't take talent for granted - Scott will always be the �� 2. Appointment viewing hard in mobile. Asynchronous easier to grow 3. New content formats get tired. Must keep innovating. Hollywood knows this Hope someone makes this work.
@lucasmtny Lucas Matney on x
Sad to see the death of this Universal Basic Income startup which literally just gave away millions in VC money to the masses https://twitter.com/...
@surlyurbanist Keep It Surly on x
Remember, kids. This is innovation. https://twitter.com/...
@hankgreen @hankgreen on x
This was wild. I was quietly extremely jealous of this product, very sad to see it end. https://twitter.com/...
@paulrieckhoff Paul Rieckhoff on x
This is a very weak letter. And letting folks know that their last day is the same day they get the letter is exceptionally weak leadership. https://twitter.com/...
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
Maybe they should have realised there was a problem when a bunch of people in the company got together to say the ceo sucked and also the main face of the entire app was able to be poached by a baseball show https://twitter.com/...
@6benharrison Ben Harrison on x
The late-2010's in a single tweet: https://twitter.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
Feels like a classic case of a great product that just didn't iterate fast enough. Was a lot of fun while it lasted https://twitter.com/...
@dnak David Nakayama on x
And I thought that Turntable and Vine had an epic and quick rise and fall. https://twitter.com/...
@noobde Ed Boon on x
Woa! Remember how huge that HQ Trivia app was?! 😱 https://twitter.com/...
@geoffkeighley Geoff Keighley on x
Bummed to hear about the end of @hqtrivia — Ahead of its time. I had so much fun guest hosting this back in the day. https://twitter.com/...
@yashar Yashar Ali on x
Like “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” HQ messed stuff up by over saturation. Should have been a weekly thing, a big event, with big money. https://twitter.com/...
@davidubben David Ubben on x
Sleep well, sweet prince. Cheaters with algorithms stripped you of your fun, but what a run. https://twitter.com/...
@johnkoetsier John Koetsier on x
How to implode a successful company, in 3 easy steps ... 1) Kill the goose that laid the golden egg 2) Well, actually, you only need 1 step 3) See #2 https://twitter.com/...
@wyshynski Greg Wyshynski on x
I truly enjoyed playing this game until I didn't. https://twitter.com/...
@benjaminjs Benjamin Siemon on x
Sadly the employees have to split their severance package with so many other fired people they'll only take home 63 cents. https://twitter.com/...
@frankpallotta Frank Pallotta on x
I spent most of my 2017 using MoviePass and playing HQ Trivia. Three years later both are gone. https://twitter.com/...

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