The GameWorkz Fortune 8 story began in 2019 when the Founder, Shaun McCamley, saw a unique opportunity and invited three like-minded professionals well-versed in digital game creation and operating online gaming platforms to join forces to build a social casino games platform that would be competitive and disrupt social casino gaming markets.
While others focused on player-versus-player games, the group designed and created a specialised social casino games platform called Fortune 8 (F8). F8 delivers social casino, hyper-casual games and RPG (Role Playing Games) pitched at the SE Asia, North American and European markets. SE Asia markets last year saw 250% YoY growth in social casino games.
The F8 platform is mobile-specific and available on IOS, Andriod and HTML5. The web version can be accessed from this link https://play.fortune8.online/ App version is available on Google Play Store. IOS is built and still moving through Apple compliance. The platform can be accessed by using the following login credentials: Username demof8@gmail.com PW 12345
F8 uses the Freemium revenue model, where virtual currency is free, and players can purchase more virtual currency to extend and improve their play experience.
Using behavioural science, the F8 experience is fun and engaging for all by offering AAA games and tapping into a unique player rewards loyalty program. Introducing an embedded sweepstakes cash-back program built around the current player rewards program will significantly increase player activity and purchases.
Our values include delivering exceptional player experiences, mutual respect, high performance, accountability, positive citizenship, and, importantly, having fun.
The SWOTT analysis, read in conjunction with the already delivered business plan, details the upside and challenges that lie ahead.
Social casino gaming is a booming segment of social games. In 2020, the global social gaming industry generated US $106 billion in revenues, with the social casino segment generating $4.5 billion in revenues.
Eager to build and promote their brands, smart land-based casino companies have devoted significant amounts of capital to get into the social sphere as they recognise excellent branding opportunities, cost-effective cross-over promotions and the opportunity to grow their databases. Given the sizable costs and licensing restrictions associated with operating an online casino site, working with a good social casino platform makes a lot of sense.
The most popular games are slots, bingo and poker which are easily played on mobile devices. Over the past couple of years, there has been a definite and pronounced shift to mobile platforms. This reflects a move away from PC-based platforms where social media giant Facebook, which in 2018 was estimated to have a 59% market share, today has an estimated 23% market share.
Mobile technology today means fantastic graphics with great sound quality, which make the games all the more engaging, and at the end of the day is what publishers are looking for. Sticky games with high entertainment value is what good publishers provide, and game developers do not have to reinvent new games to meet these goals.
In terms of game development, over the past five years, there really have not been any new game innovations or significant game upgrades. After all, the core basics of slot, bingo or poker games are already there. Slotomania, although the oldest social slot game on the market, is today still the most popular offering with more than 20 million likes on Facebook.
In terms of publishers, Playtika remains the largest social casino publisher and the most popular of the social casino portals with around 29% market share, closely followed by Double Down and Scientific Games at 8%, with Zynga coming in with around 7% market share.
Revenue Model F8
IN-APP-PURCHASES (IAPs) – the most common and lucrative model. Distributing a free, entirely open-access game attracts players to download the app. Once players are engaged, IAPs offer additional credits, discounts and incentive chances to skip ahead or enhance the playing experience.
JADE EGG - From all wagers, a small amount is allocated to the player’s Jade Egg (piggy bank). The Jade Egg has a pre-set maximum amount of 16 Million silver coins it will hold and once that amount has been reached the bank stops accruing silver coins for any wagers.
There is no cap on how many coins can be saved in a given period. As long as the bank has room to store new coins, a player will continue accruing. The Jade Egg does not change price or value during coin sales, and it cannot be combined with other promotional offers. Access to these credits is through a $19.99 purchase.
Rewards Program
The F8 Rewards Program is built around Gold Coins. For every 1,000,000 purchased silver coins wagered, players earn 1 Gold Coin which will be displayed in their Gold Coin balance. Gold coins can be redeemed for real assets making them very attractive to earn,
Trigger Points
Smart and successful operators optimise trigger activities and focus on microdata detail. For example, what prompts a player to purchase an IAP? Trigger activities like getting stuck on a level or having to wait 30 minutes for some seeds drive IAPs. Understanding how these trigger activities work, and analysing individual or macro-level data is critical for showing the right paid products to the right players at the right time.
Acquisition & Development Costs
For operators today the main challenges are the rise of user acquisition and ongoing development costs. Compared to running an online casino site these costs are still much lower, but nevertheless, understanding that having good marketing strategies to fish where the fish are makes all the difference between success and failure.
Not only do social casino developers have to compete with their direct competitors, but also with successful online operators, land-based casinos and other social or mobile game developers that are looking to enter the social casino market.
The key is to focus on new emerging markets and opportunities such as South America, Africa and SE Asia. In addition, developing new distribution channels beyond Facebook, iOS and Google Play as well as continually working on product innovation is a must.
Social Media
When dealing and working with social media it's important to have a measured and carefully thought out strategy. As a part of the media strategy and to maintain our social media presence, a dedicated social media team has been put in place.
Our marketing team has the appropriate skills, established roles and responsibilities and is familiar with our internal policies and procedures.
The first steps are to determine which social media channels best suit social casino gaming. Facebook, Google, Twitter and the like are all good options, however, looking at other channels must be a part of the strategy and opening a personal account to better understand the platform and what it might deliver in terms of player acquisition must be done.
Analyse Our Players
Research online potential and current customers. Find out if they are already online and what social media they are using. Determine which social media tools players are using and what they are saying about the social casino industry.
Analyse Our Competitors
Look to see what social media platforms our competitors using. Look at our competitors' social media pages and find out how they use it and how their customers interact with them.
Establish Rules
One of the disadvantages of social media is the potential of added risk to the business. For example, customers could criticise F8 publicly, spam our page or use inflammatory language. Establishing policies and procedures prior to start-up was key in ensuring proper checks are in place to help minimise these risks.
Internal policies and procedures were needed to cover security, privacy, and responding to criticism and spam. These are especially important if a third party is maintaining F8 social media presence.
Acceptable Use Policy
Develop an acceptable use policy for F8 social media presence. It's important to know that social media pages are treated like websites and are bound by the same legislation. Having an acceptable use policy is important because it:
1. Establishes the rules to users early on
2. Gives users fair warning before our team removes any inappropriate material or privacy breaches from our social media page
3. Builds trust with our users when they can see that we are serious about their privacy and security.
White Label Program
Using management's extensive land-based casino connections, developing cross-platform promotions and branding with leading land-based casinos and localised companies will be achieved through our white-label and loyalty rewards program.
White-label solutions are rare in social gaming and with the growth of this business segment post-pandemic, offering a white-label solution is an excellent opportunity to have an early market share.
Given the ease and cost to market a white-label solution brings, coupled with little to no regulatory oversight that social casino games companies enjoy, Fortune 8 offers an attractive option for new players to the market.
Next Development Steps
Sweepstakes Cash Prize Gameplay
Social casino sites that offer cashback prizes using a sweepstakes model have become one of the most popular and lucrative platforms in social. Players using free in-game currency can based on their gaming turnover, earn redeemable tokens that can be cashed in for real money. F8 Gold Coins have already been developed and are in play.
Gold coins are the currency of the F8 Loyalty program. Players earn gold coins based on their game turnover which is set at 1 million turnover from silver coins that have been purchased through the Shop will earn 1 gold coin.
Our sweepstakes model is to allow players to readily interchange between Gold Coins (sweep coins) through sweepstakes gameplay by adding an additional gold coin balance to each game where players can wager accrued gold coins and redeem them for real cash.
Next Development Steps
Send Gifts Between Players
Players should be able to communicate with each other using standard emojis and be able to send gifts to other players by tapping on a friend icon. Gifts could range from slices of pizza, cakes or coffee and be purchased from the Shop.
Clubs
The Golden Dragon League where players gather in groups called Clubs to compete, talk and make new friends. Players can create their own Club and this costs 2,000,000 silver coins. Players can set up a few options such as:
A Club Wall
Social communication between friends is key. The Club Wall is a place where Club Members may share important news (posts) and post messages to friends and collect rewards. If any player makes a purchase, the rest of the club members will get a small reward, which they will be able to collect from their Club Wall.
Investment Overview
GameWorkz is privately owned having four shareholders. As already noted in the executive summary GamwWorkz operates social casino games through Fortune 8 a social casino games platform created and build over an 18-month period funded by the four shareholders.
Fortune 8 is a mobile-centric platform available on IOS, Android and via an HTML 5 web version. The app launched a Beta APK version in Q3 2022 and HTML 5 web site Q1 2023. Appendix 1 details the results from the initial marketing test campaigns. Marketing spend was halted until additional payment providers to Google play were in place. Additional investment was made Q4 2022 to build the HTML 5 version.
The primary payment platforms now include PayPal one of the world's largest payment providers with Mastercard and Visa payments available through Braintree. In Q1 2023 purchases using cryptocurrencies can be made through the facility provided by Bitpace.
The strategy following the completion of the offer is to first develop and make available a social sweepstakes cash-back component. Additional developments should include the provision of Clubs and other social extensions commensurate with other social casino games platforms. We would look to expand into additional targeted geographical gaming markets (subject to compliance with local laws); investigate the development of potential strategic partnerships and or potential strategic acquisition opportunities in the social games and gaming sectors; accelerate growth by integrating the F8 social sweepstakes gameplay technology with existing gaming businesses and their player bases.
The Offer
The purchase price for 75% of the existing shares is Euro 225,000 with 25% held by the Founder Shaun McCamley.
Any additional funding needed to meet the goals of the strategic plan outlined would be treated as a capital investment by the majority shareholder attracting investment interest at 25% of Net Profit until repaid in full. Dividends are payable once the Captial Investment has been repaid in full.