Cameron Brookhouse, CEO & Co-Founder at Quell

In this Q&A you’ll hear from Cameron Brookhouse, CEO of fitness gaming startup Quell. With an immersive fitness gaming platform in development and $10M raise in hand, Cameron believes Quell’s gamification strategy will be a paradigm shift. He explains why it could transform the at-home fitness experience and how it democratises fitness across all abilities.

Get us up to date with Quell.

Cameron Brookhouse: It’s an incredibly exciting time for Quell, as we’re accelerating towards our global launch. This means putting the finishing touches on Impact, our fitness gaming platform, and Shardfall, our launch game, which sees players fighting, sprinting and leaping their way through a fantasy world.

We recently welcomed some of our earliest backers to experience Quell firsthand, and it was a resounding success. Our playtest scored an impressive average of 9.6/10.

This was a testament to our mission of delivering high-quality fitness through thrilling gameplay and the culmination of four years of hard work.

How do you approach a shifting expectation for fitness?

CB: The pandemic drove an unprecedented surge in fitness exploration, significantly boosting a variety of home fitness products as people sought innovative ways to stay active.

Now, people are embracing a blend of home and out-of-home fitness routines. Despite a wide variety of exercise options, maintaining a consistent regimen remains challenging for many, exemplified by the 64% of gym memberships currently going unused.

While the intention to stay fit is there, many find it difficult to commit due to real and perceived barriers. Exercisers face obstacles not just from lack of time, absence of companionship or unfavourable weather, but also the intimidation of working out in a public setting – all of which impair motivation.

We address these challenges in three ways: First, we’re dismantling the barriers to fitness with Impact, a dedicated fitness gaming platform, allowing play anywhere, anytime.

Second, our workouts are motivating, utilising high-octane gameplay and continuous rewards.

Third, players embark on a personalised fitness journey, enhanced by performance analytics and responsive gameplay.

To be a credible alternative to traditional fitness methods, delivering real fitness results is essential. Our game Shardfall delivers a full-body, combat-based workout that burns an average of 620 kcal per hour – comparable to real-world spin or boxercise classes. This embodies the Quell experience.

Why do you think gamification is so important for well-being?

CB: Gamification has been a major cross-sector trend over the last 10 years, with vast applications in different industries including education, retail and fitness.

It enhances the consumer experience and engagement by integrating streaks, badges, currencies, leaderboards and social affirmation, to great effect. These features serve as powerful psychological triggers, encouraging people to quickly adopt new behaviours and overcome the motivation hurdle.

Fitness is an obvious use case for gamification, enabling faster progression and engagement. Exercise is a long-term commitment, and it can be disheartening to start a new fitness regime without seeing any tangible physical changes for weeks or months.

Within the context of a fitness game, players can promptly unlock new character upgrades, levels and challenges, as well as setting near-term goals and gaining a sense of instant achievement.

Gamification adds an extra dimension to the exercise experience, providing goal setting at the start and a dopamine hit at the end.

How do you reach more customers?

CB: We’re focused on creating an inclusive community that enjoys working out on Quell – and  we listen to our members, who are the most potent advocates for our platform. We believe nothing is more powerful than our community spreading the word on our behalf.

So, we seek partnerships with brands and projects that align with our vision and contribute to the enrichment of our community. This allows us to reach a wider audience and optimise owned and earned channels to raise awareness.

What’s next on your roadmap?

CB: Quell’s launch is the most important item on the roadmap right now, and we believe that it will be transformative for the fitness sector.

Following this, projects in the pipeline include introducing additional social features, new ways to work out in Shardfall and, ultimately, new games for the Impact platform.

What consumer trends are you most excited about in 2024 & beyond?

CB: The fitness industry is challenging old ideals to foster a more diverse and inclusive environment. Quell contributes to this movement by offering inclusive fitness routines suitable for people of all abilities.

As the interactive fitness market picks up pace, developers are leveraging VR and AR workouts to make exercise more accessible.

For us, that means continually seeking to design new fitness experiences related to social engagement, leveraging the power of gaming to increase fitness opportunities and experiences for all, including people with physical disabilities.

If you’re interested in having your company featured in our Q&A series, send an email to hello@welltodoglobal.com.