HQ Trivia, the trivia app game, has shuttered after its potential buyer backed out of a deal. As revealed by CNN Business, the company has given up and laid off its 25 full-time employees.
The app showed up around 2017 and pulled in over a million users with Scott Rogowsky originally hosting the trivia game. But, ever since 2018, it fell and its audience slowly pittered out of existence. Friday saw an email sent out to its staff detailing that investors are pulling out. Without financial backing from investors, they couldn’t continue.
In its email, which CNN acquired, they explained they’d be moving into the process of dissolution.
December 2018, saw its co-founder, Colin Kroll, pass away due to a drug overdose. This hit the company hard.
The app tried to bring itself back from the dead by providing an image-based challenge game called HQX. Overall, though, it didn’t work to their advantage.
HQ Trivia, which has boasted tons of partnerships with the likes of ABC and CBS as well as a sponsored with Warner Bros. film, The Lego Movie 2. Sadly, the partnerships and sponsors weren’t enough to keep them afloat and its subscription service wasn’t getting the level of support they hoped for. This also followed a July 2019 firing of employees, which led to other staffers leaving, too.
The future looks dim for the app, but let’s face it, people probably won’t miss it.