Andrew MacDonald is the CEO of Joy Gaming Ltd. Andrew and his team are bringing into the market, the Joytoken project which aims to revolutionise the eGaming industry with Blockchain Technology.
1) Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m Andrew MacDonald, CEO of Joy Gaming Ltd. I along with a team of seasoned gaming professionals are working on the JoyToken project – a project that we believe will revolutionise the eGaming industry. Our Team is well skilled in Marketing, Product Operations and Business intelligence and has an extensive experience in launching new products and services, giving us a unique perspective on what’s needed to make this project a successful venture.
2) What is JoyToken ?
Joytoken is a radical new idea that will shake up the eGaming space. The project is more than a cryptocurrency, it’s a new approach to bringing new, innovative and exciting content to market by enabling independent developers. We have created an API that, once integrated into games of independent developers, will allow players to audit their play on our games by recording all details of each transaction within a smart contract. By allowing developers to create their own content and integrate our API, we’re going to help get their content through all regulatory, compliance and legal checks then take their content to market. We aim to build a large portfolio of games that are new and fun to play. JoyToken is about Joy – it’s all fun!
3) What inspired you to launch a Blockchain and Cryptocurrency venture with JoyToken?
It started whilst we were working on an online casino build, we were asking key questions about what makes an online casino product stand out and started to deconstruct some key issues with the industry. We noted that that there had been some stagnation and complacency with no real innovation. There were a number of games providers, all generating similar content with no real commitment to building something new – mainly the same engine with a new skin wrapped around it. We also noted that there were key providers that generated the most desirable content, yet they too lack true innovation. From the view of the player we felt that there was room to grow and that not only could we produce some great games, but we could add another USP using blockchain technology – true transparency. With this technology comes the opportunity to log every single transaction on a smart contract and for each individual player to audit their play should they wish to. This builds an environment where trust in a system isn’t necessary as we would have full disclosure with the player. Project JoyToken was a concept made reality from these observations; we believe that we have the power to shake things up and challenge the status quo.
4) What makes the JOY cryptocurrency unique?
Our currency has 2 main customers: the players and the developers. Developers will pay to access our system and sign on with us, then all proceeds from their games are paid in JOY. The players, can use the JoyToken where regulations are permitted, but we are allowing the use of fiat currencies on our games too – allowing much more reach to the players. The beauty of this is, that fiat play will contribute to the strength of the JoyToken and the value of the token is controlled by simple factors. In essence Joy Gaming Ltd will be one of the core purchasers of the token to ensure we have the supply to pay our developers. The more that is wagered – in any currency (crypto or fiat) – the more the demand for the JoyToken grows.
5) How will JoyToken reshape the game development industry?
We will be able to provide access to the eGaming market to small developers. Those with bug ideas and insufficient funds and time to get their games out there. We’re about removing barriers and about seeking innovation. We believe that the current system with big games vendors is restrictive, with only the vision of a small few ‘elite’ responsible for the content production. We believe that by taking that power and enabling the developers to produce their own unique content will create avenues for new ideas and innovations, unfettered by a bureaucratic mentality.
6) How much do you intend to raise in the JoyToken Token Sale and what are the steps for contributing?
Our Soft Cap is $1M USD and our Hard Cap is $43.6M USD. The amount we raise will determine how quickly we can get our portfolio together and get it to market. It will also drive our engagement budgets with the operators that take on our content. If you’d like to contribute, there are 2 ways – 1. Presale: a minimum purchase of $30k USD and we’ll give a 50% Discount to these early adopters. 2. The Token Sale from March 20th: Purchase minimums are $100 USD and we’ll still be giving a decent discount to those that want to come in as early as they can too! Supported wallets for the Token Sale include MyEtherWallet, Mist-Ethereum Wallet, Metamask, Parity, imToken, Ledger, Trezor, and a few others. Check out JoyToken.io for more details.
7) Do you know which exchanges the JoyToken token will be traded on at this time?
We’ll be announcing this soon. Keep your eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Blogs and sign up for our emails.
8) What were some of the biggest challenges you encountered while working to launch your ICO?
There are a number of challenges that we had to overcome. We needed to ensure our technology was strong enough to demo – to show people that we have a working concept and will deliver on our promise. Showing our legitimacy in the marketplace. We have licenced products and know the markets we’re involved in and there are a number of ICOs that are gambling focused without a firm foundation of the basics – we continually have to show our distinction. The positive end of that is that we’re not trying to create our own casino dedicated to crypto currency – we’re providing content to licenced operators and aren’t restricting ourselves to one revenue stream. Another issue we’ve had is getting our message heard. With more and more firms trying to run ICOs every day, getting heard is getting harder. We believe that we’ve got the right balance with PR, Social, Affiliates and Bounty schemes to carry our message – and it’s a good one, so we’re rather confident.
9) What’s going to happen to JoyToken after token sale concludes and what where do you see things in 5 years?
That’s where the fun begins. We will be forging new relationships with developers and spreading the word to get our content produced. We aim to have 20 games within the first year and 100 by the end of year two. We will be building our B2B endeavours and put together a roadmap to engage operators with Joy Gaming funded initiatives to get our games in front of the players. We will strive for visibility on all casinos where our games are hosted and will incentivise as needed. In 5 years’ time we will have a substantially larger games portfolio and we’ll be looking at how to further enable independent developers to have them take advantage of what we have to offer. The keys are quality, innovation, openness and relationships – these are our pillars that will drive us forwards.
10) What are your marketing and sales strategies to achieve that?
To be honest, it all comes down to available resource. If we hit the $1M softcap, we’ll be focussed on the developers and B2B agreements – we’ll be working on outreach programmes through developer communities. Should we raise more than this, we’ll have funds for bespoke campaigns that will allow us to incentivise operators to put our games in prominent places on their websites. I don’t want to give the game away for these just yet though!
11) Could you tell us a little about your team and customer support?
Our team consists of 3 eGaming veterans, 1 Venture Capitalist and 15 developers. This project is lead by me – I’ve over 20 years of retail and online gaming experience for companies such as bet365, BWin, PartyGaming, Rank across product verticlas of Bingo, Casino, Poker, Games and Vegas. The CMO, Mike Leys, a seasoned marketer with 30 years of experience and over 15 years in eGaming working for the likes of Mr Green and PokerStars. The CTO Steve Giordano Imbrol, with strong skills relating to data, analysis, development and BI. He’s worked at firms such as Pokerstars and PKR. Ultimately, we’re passionate about gaming, we love it and believe that it’s a source of entertainment that appeals to a wide variety of consumers. It’s through our experience and the launch of our sister-company PlayCosmo.com that lead to the birth of this Project. Our Development team are a great crew of seasoned software engineers that share our passion for creating something that will enable innovation to a somewhat stagnant market. Customer Service is something we have at the moment through freelancers during the ICO and we will be building a new bespoke eGaming CS team when we’re working with the developers and get our games out there. We need specialist skills that would be wasted during the ICO period, so we’re taking a 2 stage approach on this one.
12) Would you like to talk about your legal and security measures?
Of course. Our team is pro-regulation and we feel that the only way to make the cryptocurrency a success is to keep abreast of the ever-changing crypto-economy ecosystem. We are regularly consulting legal advisors to ensure we are proceeding with our project in the right manner.
What you also need to know is that in eGaming, the market by market legal and regulatory requirements are varied and if you have a fault in one, it can mark your reputation in others. We love this industry and as such are for the protection of our players through best practice and following all compliance and legal lines to the letter. We are pro-Responsible Gambling, KYC and will always comply with AML laws. We won’t take our products into black markets and we will build a strong reputation by doing so.
13) Do you have more information for our readers?
We are always available to answer any questions anyone has on this project. We hold regular webinar events, publish on social media and can be reached via Telegram, email, twitter and facebook. Please come and ask us anything you’d like to know whenever you would like. Visit our website : https://JoyToken.io
