HQ was a mobile trivia game developed by Intermedia Labs for iOS, Android, iPadOS, and tvOS.
First released in 2017, the HQ app allowed users to participate in daily, live, trivia games in which they could win or split prize money.
HQ was developed by Vine creators Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll and credited as a production of Intermedia Labs.
[1] The app's original game was HQ Trivia, in which players have 10 seconds to answer multiple-choice questions that increase in difficulty.
On February 14, 2020, Intermedia Labs Trivia sent a memo to staff stating the company would "cease operations and move to dissolution".
The game's original concept, a gameshow hosted by astronauts, was created by Rus Yusupov, who had been experimenting with the idea at his tech incubator, Big Human, prior to co-founding Intermedia Labs.
[11] Richards, a stand-up comedian from Queens, New York, who has played comedy roles in several TV shows, had previously worked regularly for HQ Trivia as a fill-in host.
[14] HQ has been made available worldwide—with the exception of Russia and India[citation needed]—on the iOS App Store and Google Play.
[15] On February 14, 2020, it was announced that the app would immediately cease operations after its primary investors had stopped funding the company and a potential sale of HQ to an "established business" fell through.
[5] A final episode of HQ After Dark was aired that night, hosted by Matt Richards and Anna Roisman.
[16] On February 18, 2020, Yusupov said on Twitter that he had reached a tentative deal with an unspecified company to purchase the HQ franchise, thus allowing it to continue in the near future.
[7] During the first game, host Matt Richards announced that HQ was donating $100,000 to World Central Kitchen, founded by José Andrés.
HQ Sports was hosted by Lauren Gambino, co-host of the fantasy football web show "Offsides".
[citation needed] On May 7, 2020, Matt Richards announced that HQ Sports would return on May 10, hosted again by Gambino, scheduled for Sundays and Thursdays at 5 pm ET.
After airing six games sponsored by Busch Light beer, Gambino announced another HQ Sports hiatus during the broadcast of May 28, 2020.
In each season, players could level up via point accumulation to gain special advantages in all game modes (except HQX) such as bonus strikes in Words and Free-Passes for questions in Trivia, Sports, and Tunes.
Beginning on February 13, 2019, HQ Words began allowing 10 total incorrect letter choices across all the game's puzzles.
[citation needed] On December 12, 2019, HQ launched HQX, a multi-themed photo competition hosted by Matt Friend.
HQX originated from the concept of HQ Date Night, which envisioned a live version of Tinder but never advanced beyond the conceptual stage.
[50] Jacob eventually received his payment in August and gave a public statement noting that the company had delayed in the payout to ensure that he had not defrauded the system.
Creators Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll sought to attract investors and venture capitalist firms to fund HQ with the intent of landing a post-money valuation as high as $100 million.
[45][56] On March 6, 2018, HQ's parent company, Intermedia Labs, successfully raised $15 million from the venture capital firm Founders Fund.
[61] On July 16, 2019, it was announced that HQ Trivia was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program for its partnership with Warner Bros. to promote The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.