Þorsteinn Baldur Friðriksson[1] (born 30 June 1979), commonly anglicised as Thor Fridriksson, is an Icelandic businessman. He was the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Plain Vanilla Games, a Reykjavík-based video game developer, until its defunction in August 2016.[2]
Thor Fridriksson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Þorsteinn Baldur Friðriksson June 30, 1979 Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Nationality | Icelandic |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (MBA, 2009) |
| Known for | Plain Vanilla Games |
Personal life edit
Thor was born in Reykjavík on 30 June 1979. He graduated from the Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in 1999 and studied at Reykjavik University.[3][4]
Career edit
Thor was working with the broadband-ISP startup Hive until it was purchased by Vodafone in 2007.[5] Deciding to explore a different industry, Thor became a local TV news reporter.[2][5] After studying at the University of Oxford, Thor started Plain Vanilla Games in Reykjavík during the Icelandic financial crisis.[6] Thor and his team at Plain Vanilla Games spent over a year developing an educational app for children called The Moogies,[5] that failed to gain popularity on the App Store.[7] Despite the country's economic issues, Thor decided to keep the Plain Vanilla Games' headquarters located in Reykjavík to help support job growth and other start-up companies.[6]
In June 2020, Thor released a new game titled Trivia Royale that "lets users compete in a 1,000-person, single-elimination trivia tournament."[8]
In 2022, Thor launched a new gaming platform, Rocky Road, which debuted a "hyperlocal social mobile gaming experience" in Iceland, and subsequently raised $5.2 million from Luminar Ventures, Crowberry Capital, Sisu Ventures and David Helgason, the founder of Unity Technologies.[9]
References edit
- ^ Bogadóttir, Þórunn Elísabet (31 August 2016). "Plain Vanilla lokað á Íslandi – öllum starfsmönnum sagt upp". Kjarninn. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ a b Kolodny, Lora (27 December 2013). "QuizUp Takes Over Where Trivial Pursuit Left Off — The Mobile Generation". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ "Metnaður til að skara fram úr" [Ambition to excel]. Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 2 May 2003. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
- ^ Griffith, Erin (6 March 2014). "How hit trivia app QuizUp survived the hype cycle". Fortune. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ a b c Lumb, David (28 February 2014). "How The Creator Of QuizUp Turned A String Of Foolish Moves Into A 10 Million-User App". Fast Company. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ a b Gottlieb, Jenna (6 March 2014). "Startup's success with QuizUp app a bright spot for Iceland's economy". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ Roof, Katie (6 March 2014). "QuizUp Debuts On Android; How An Icelandic Game Became An Overnight Success". Forbes. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ "How Thor Fridriksson's 'Trivia Royale' earned 2.5M downloads in 3 weeks". TechCrunch. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ "Icelandic startup secures $3M seed for innovative social mobile gaming experience". Arctic Startups.
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