With Firebase expanding to form an entire ecosystem of services, and being kept alive for a long time now, I have renewed hope that being acquihired by Google won't just be the death knell - at least for this type of service.
Was Firebase acquihired? I would think not. Without knowing the details of the amounts paid, the fact itself that Firebase is still around and Google seem to actually keep investing in it - tells me it was more than just an expensive hiring process.