20+ years in the gambling industry including 13+ years playing and reviewing slots.
OLBG’s Chris Taylor sat down with ELK Studios’ Head of Marketing Jacob Nordwall for a general Questions and Answers interview. Since being established in 2013, ELK Studios is one of the top providers of slot games which are unique and have their own mechanics and distinct style.
Available to play at the overwhelming majority of online slot sites, the Q&A with ELK Studios looks into how games are created, their most popular titles, desktop versus mobile play, UK regulations, slot sequels and series as well as future releases.
Q: Can you describe ELK Studios’ journey since it was founded?
JN: “Founded in 2013, ELK Studios has been on a rapid growth trajectory in all aspects, currently 130+ employees all working in the same office in Stockholm, Sweden, and releasing around 25 games per year.”
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Q: How are new slot games created? What’s the process?
JN: “Our production cycle is about 3-4 months per game, and goes through the Conceptual stage (preprod), Production phase and finalization before sending our games to 3rd party certification.”
Q: What are ELK Studios’ most popular slot games? Are there any that are particularly popular only in the UK?
JN: “We take pride in the games, themes and characters we create. And quite a lot of them have become strong IPs in the industry. Looking at player favourites, it's a must to mention the GOLD Series, Nitropolis, Pirots and Cygnus.”
Check out OLBG’s reviews of Pirots 3, Avalon Gold and Nitropolis 5.
Q: What % of players play on mobile vs desktop/ tablet devices?
JN: “We see about a 80/20 split between mobile vs desktop. All ELK Studios slots are created using HTML5 technology so are responsive to laptop, PC, smartphone and tablet devices.”
Q: What challenges does ELK Studios face with regards to regulation in the UK?
JN: “Our mission is to be live in every regulated corner of the world, and in order to do that, we need to address all market regulations with the outmost care. In terms of the UK, I think a lot is on the table right now with bet levels and feature buys so keeping a close ear to the regulation updates will be beneficial.”
UK Regulations
Q: ELK Studios are the king of sequels & series: will there be any more in future?
JN: “Haha, yeah as I mentioned we treat our IPs with utmost care, and also learn by each release what players like. So when releasing a new game in a slot series or sequel, you can rest assured that we’ve made the necessary additions and updates to make it an even better game. So yes, you will see more in the future.”
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Q: Can you tell us a little about your upcoming releases?
JN: “We have some really exciting releases to end the year, with Ryze releasing on the 5th of November, and Reindeer Royale on the 3rd of December (2024).”
Q: Do you have a particular favourite slot from ELK Studios? If so, why?
JN: “My personal favourite is Pacific Gold. With a World War 2 theme, it’s part of the ‘GOLD’ series and features our favourite adventurer Kane. With Avalanches leading up to 262,144 ways to win, it has plenty of bonus features and a Safety Level in the free spins which can award 10,000 x bet payouts.”
Q: What other slot games from other providers do you like/play?
I think what Print Studios is doing right now by closing the gap between slots and video games is interesting (i.e. Reapers), and I see similarities in that with some of our own releases. But as an all-time favourite, I must say Primal Megaways from Blueprint Gaming.”
