Thor Fridriksson
Þorsteinn Baldur Friðriksson[1] (born 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 1979 (age 41–42) |
Nationality | Icelandic |
Alma mater | University of Oxford (MBA, 2009) |
Known for | Plain Vanilla Games |
Personal life
Þorsteinn is a native Icelander.[3] He received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Oxford in 2009.
Career
Þorsteinn was working with the broadband-ISP startup Hive until it was purchased by Vodafone in 2007.[4] Deciding to explore a different industry, Þorsteinn became a local TV news reporter.[2][4] After studying at the University of Oxford, Þorsteinn started Plain Vanilla Games in Reykjavík during the Icelandic financial crisis.[5] Þorsteinn and his team at Plain Vanilla Games spent over a year developing an educational app for children called The Moogies,[4] that failed to gain popularity on the App Store.[6] Despite the country's economic issues, Þorsteinn decided to keep the Plain Vanilla Games' headquarters located in Reykjavík to help support job growth and other start-up companies.[5]
In June 2020, Þorsteinn released a new game titled Trivia Royale that "lets users compete in a 1,000-person, single-elimination trivia tournament."[7]
References
- Bogadóttir, Þórunn Elísabet (31 August 2016). "Plain Vanilla lokað á Íslandi – öllum starfsmönnum sagt upp". Kjarninn. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- Kolodny, Lora (27 December 2013). "QuizUp Takes Over Where Trivial Pursuit Left Off — The Mobile Generation". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- Griffith, Erin (6 March 2014). "How hit trivia app QuizUp survived the hype cycle". Fortune. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- 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.
- 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.