[justsee]

Isn't it more likely their realtime functionality will be integrated or merged with whatever WebSocket initiatives Google has running?

Look at their Google Play services: Android and iOS get realtime, and web is relegated to using a REST API: https://developers.google.com/games/services/

To me that's a huge hole in their services currently that needs to be remedied as the realtime web becomes more pervasive.

[a_c_s]

My comment was only referring to Firebase as a standalone product/service.

If Google discontinues it yet incorporates the technology into their own products/platforms that is still a loss for developers who use/would have used Firebase.