HQ Trivia is shuttering its entire live gaming platform as a deal to inject the business with cash fell through. It will cease operations and part ways with all employees, CNN reports.

Arriving in late 2017, HQ Trivia achieved global success quickly. Yet its popularity didn't last over the next few years. HQ Trivia's community started to shrink, and that left parent company HQ testing different strategies to find stability.

HQ tried to regain momentum by rolling out spinoffs, but most users didn't return to the platform. Behind the scenes, leadership struggled to chart a path toward profitability. Prizes are needed to reward players, and HQ depended on sponsors to supply either cash or items. In-app purchases also weren't generating enough sales revenue to cover HQ's expenses. Finally, its leadership decided to explore an acquisition.

The deal between HQ and "an established business" could've closed over the weekend, but an internal email revealed the potential acquisition collapsed at the last minute and existing investors didn't step forward with additional funding. Without any outside support, HQ couldn't afford to stay online any longer. Effective immediately, HQ Trivia and its related spinoffs are offline. HQ will now dissolve after less than three years of serving mobile-based contests to users around the world.

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.

— Rus (@rus) February 14, 2020

Co-founder and CEO Rus Yusupov reflected on HQ's run in a tweet. "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," he said. "Thanks to everyone who helped build this and thanks for playing."

Yusupov designed HQ Trivia with Colin Kroll, who died due to a drug overdose in December 2018. Both also co-founded Vine.