Based in Singapore,
Isle of Fortune is the first mobile quiz game in the world that rewards Knowledge and Skill with cash awards. To win, a user plays a quiz that has 10 questions and the user with the highest score in a pre-defined time wins the Award. The app has a daily prize of $100 and a weekly prize of $1000 to keep the players constantly engaged. There are lifelines, much in the same fashion as those seen on the TV show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” that adds an element of strategy into the game.
Available for free downloads on the Google Play Store and with an easy to use interface, Isle of Fortune promises to keep players hooked.
Once downloaded, users will have the option of playing 2 games within the app:
The Isle of Fortune game: A daily free quiz wherein the user with the best score of the day emerges as the winner.
This quiz runs daily for 24 hours starting at 00:01 hours GMT every day and ending at 23:59 hours GMT on that same day. The reward for the Isle of Fortune game is a cash prize of $100 or its local equivalent for the best score.
The Grand Game: A weekly quiz bonanza from Isle of Fortune. The user with the best score of the week in answering the quiz, emerges as the winner. This quiz runs weekly starting from 00:01 GMT every Monday and that ends at 23:59 hours GMT on the Sunday of the same week in a Monday to Sunday cycle every week. The reward for the Grand Game is a cash prize of USD 1000 or its local equivalent for the best score.
In an interaction with Sujata Sangwan of BW Businessworld, Arjun Rao (Managing Director, Isle of Fortune Pte. Ltd.) shared his entrepreneurial journey.
When and how did you come up with the idea to launch your own venture?Two years ago, My wife and I got completely hooked onto a wonderful quiz app called Quiz Up. It was engaging, interesting and a lot of fun. My only grouse was that there was no gratification involved, apart from the sheer pleasure of my wife admitting that I beat her in the game over several topics. That lead to me developing the idea that is now coming to live on both the Android and Apple platforms. It took me a year to get some understanding into things mobile gaming related, and here we are today.
Who is your biggest competitor? As it stands, we are the first mobile quiz game in the world to offer this game of Knowledge, Skill and Speed that has cash awards.
What is the funding status and monetization model?The game has been personally funded with the help of investors who are family and friends. The game offers multiple monetisation models that include game purchase, in app advertising options and going forward, the opportunity to create bespoke content for interested parties.
What are your future plans?We are already working on some very unique ideas for the Tourism sector using our developed algorithms and technology. I hope to have several new initiatives in place by December 2017, that leverages our know-how in this space. Once we have a smoothly functioning and efficient gaming engine in place, it will allow us to expand in multiple directions with multiple concepts. At the moment, we have just completed the second round of our live trials and have gone offline to enable changes to the game to ensure a great experience for all. We plan to conduct our grand launch in June and will be announcing a date shortly. I would like to thank all our players so far who have so enthusiastically taken to the game, enjoyed the experience and given us great feedback.
How do you look at expansion?Expansion for me means additional markets to launch in. As we complete our legal studies in different global markets, we will expand into newer territories. As of now, we are ready to launch in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, 10 states in the USA, UK, Germany and Singapore, besides India. We also have the opportunity to launch in China, but that has its own challenges in terms of language and UI/UX.
How big is the market and what opportunities are you looking out in future?Mobile gaming is a huge marketplace globally, with 2016 having seen approximately $100 billion in revenues being generated, with China and USA being the biggest revenue generators as far as markets go. Games like Pokemon Go, Clash of Clans, Candy Crush and a few other really big products continue to rule the roost. The challenge is always going to be about creating innovative and highly engaging game products for the mobile world, and then ensure that it is marketed well.
I would love to be able to successfully evolve into a serious player in the knowledge domain and be able to continuously create mobile games that are exciting for the users and commercially viable for us.
