page_title: HQ (video game)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: HQ (video game) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Talk show host Scott Rogowsky on the February 2014 live episode of Dale Radio. Highlights from the February 2014 live episode of Dale Radio Host: Dale Seever Music Director: Andrew Bancroft Guests: Sue Smith Scott Rogowsky Brooke Van Poppelen Eliot Glazer Shot at The PIT Underground, New York City Shot and edited by Bill Scurry/AmericanCaesar Enterprises
context_page_description: HQ is a trivia video game developed by Intermedia Labs for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and Android. First released in 2017, players can play for free in daily trivia games through which they can win or split prize money. HQ was developed by Vine creators Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll, and credited as a production of Intermedia Labs. The app's original game was HQ Trivia, in which players have 10 seconds to answer multiple-choice questions, which increase in difficulty. Additional games, such as HQ Words and HQ Tunes, were added later.
  On February 14, 2020, the company that owned HQ Trivia sent a memo to staff that "effective today, HQ will cease operations and move to dissolution." However, four days later, Yusupov said that he had a tentative deal in place with another company to purchase the HQ franchise and keep it operational. Approximately six weeks later, on March 29, Yusupov tweeted that HQ Trivia was returning that evening.
context_section_description: HQ Trivia was first released on August 26, 2017, for iOS, and on December 31, 2017, for Android. Shows are broadcast live from New York City. The primary host of HQ Trivia was initially Scott Rogowsky. In April 2019, Rogowsky was replaced by Matt Richards as the primary host of the game after negotiations between HQ and Rogowsky broke down over his new baseball show on DAZN. 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. Additional hosts included Sharon Carpenter (who was also the main host for the British games), Sarah Pribis, David Magidoff, Sian Welby, Alexandra Maurer (regular host for the German games), Leonie Zeumer, Lara Falkner, Kathryn Goldsmith, Lauren Gambino, Lyndsey Rodrigues, and, exclusively for the British games, Beric Livingstone.
  HQ has been made available worldwide—with the exception of Russia and India—on the iOS App Store and Google Play. The average number of participants has ranged from 100,000 to 125,000. The app's record high of concurrent players was 2.38 million on March 28, 2018.
  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. A final episode of HQ After Dark was aired that night, hosted by Matt Richards and Anna Roisman. The show ended with Richards showering Roisman and himself with a large bottle of champagne. The final payout was between $0.00–$0.01 per player, split between just over 500 players, as $5 was the final jackpot prize, which Richards said he paid for out of his own pocket.
  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.
  On March 29, Yusupov publicly announced that HQ was resuming operations that evening. During the first game, host Matt Richards announced that HQ was donating $100,000 to World Central Kitchen, founded by José Andrés.
  For other game shows that were added, Anna Roisman regularly hosted HQ Words, Melody Alanna was the host of HQ Tunes, Lauren Gambino served as the host of HQ Sports, and Matt Friend was the host of HQX. These shows were all discontinued in February 2020, and HQ Sports returned (with Gambino) in May 2020.
caption: Former HQ host Scott Rogowsky
exif: {}