HQ Trivia host Scott Rogowsky reveals a key insight: the game was too difficult to win consistently. This frustrated even highly intelligent players, leading to churn. A core principle for engaging consumer products, especially games, is to allow users to feel competent and successful, a lesson he's applying to his new venture, Savvy.
Related Insights
A primary reason users abandon AI-driven learning is the "re-engagement barrier." After pausing on a difficult concept, they lose the immediate context. Returning requires too much cognitive effort to get back up to speed, creating a cycle of guilt and eventual abandonment that AI tools must solve for.
Despite being the indispensable public face of the viral brand, host Scott Rogowsky was offered a mere quarter-point of equity. This starkly illustrates how tech-focused startups can critically undervalue non-technical, forward-facing talent, creating misalignment and risking the loss of key personnel.
The obsession with removing friction is often wrong. When users have low intent or understanding, the goal isn't to speed them up but to build their comprehension of your product's value. If software asks you to make a decision you don't understand, it makes you feel stupid, which is the ultimate failure.
The company's second and third games failed commercially, forcing a tough analysis. They realized Exploding Kittens worked because it was simple, fast, and intensely social. The flops were too complex or lacked interaction. This painful experience helped them codify the formula for their next hit, "Throw Throw Burrito."
The founders of HQ Trivia, who came from the tech platform Vine, didn't understand how to manage on-screen talent. This created tension and instability, highlighting the need for domain-specific leadership in media-tech hybrid companies where on-camera personalities are central to the product.
People who scored 90%+ in school often have a bias towards complexity. They feel a need to justify their intellect by solving complex problems, which can cause them to overlook simple solutions that consumers actually want. The market rewards simplicity, not intellectual complexity.
Despite massive initial growth, HQ Trivia's user base churned because the core product remained unchanged. The leadership team, lacking mobile gaming experience, failed to ship new features or engagement mechanics, leading to predictable user fatigue and a massive drop-off in players.
The difficulty of video games is not just a creative choice but a direct function of their business model. Arcades monetized failure, so games were hard to extract more coins. Home consoles monetized a single purchase, so games became easier to appeal to a wider audience, showing how platform shifts alter design philosophy.
Scott Rogowsky's new app, Savvy, evolves the live game show model. Instead of just hosting, Rogowsky actively plays against the users. This "host vs. audience" mechanic, inspired by classic shows like 'Win Ben Stein's Money', creates a novel competitive dynamic for mobile gaming.
The challenge in designing game AI isn't making it unbeatable—that's easy. The true goal is to create an opponent that pushes players to an optimal state of challenge where matches are close and a sense of progression is maintained. Winning or losing every game easily is boring.
