Scientific Games has strengthened its content offering and production capabilities with the acquisition of ELK Studios, a European games developer.
The deal will see Scientific Games bring ELK’s content into the US and Canadian gambling markets. And it will further improve the provider’s position in the UK and Europe.
“We have had a strategic partnership with ELK Studios for a number of years and its games have performed brilliantly across the OpenGaming platform,” said Dylan Slaney, CEO igaming at Scientific Games.
“ELK is one of the most innovative, and top-ranked studios in igaming,” Slaney added. “Their passion and enthusiasm for producing games of stand-out quality is infectious. They will play a pivotal role in helping us continue to provide players with even more immersive and engaging experiences.”
ELK has a long history of producing successful titles with a mobile-first focus, including Wild Toro II, Katmandu and Cygnus.
The Stockholm-based provider also features games with the X-iter tool. With tailor-made modes to fit each slot, players can experience the core of every game and pick their favourite scenario.
North American focus
“Acquiring ELK Studios demonstrates once again our commitment to make targeted, value-enhancing investments designed to advance our cross-platform content capabilities,” said Barry Cottle, president and CEO, Scientific Games.
“The ELK Studios team is packed with talent and enhances our existing in-house teams and capabilities,” Cottle added. “The highly synergistic combination of their top-ranked games and our leading OpenGaming ecosystem offers exciting distribution opportunities in the US and Canada. I am thrilled to welcome them to our team.”
Over the past few months, Scientific Games has made several igaming acquisitions. The company has recently partnered with slot developer Lightning Box and premium live casino solutions provider Authentic Gaming.
Perfect timing
According to Filip Säfbeck, CEO at ELK Studios, the timing couldn’t be better for the collaboration.
“This deal is the fruit of many years of hard work by a team that is fully committed to crafting high-quality online gaming experiences,” he said.
“We see it as the perfect time to join the Scientific Games team, given that our ambitions to grow through innovation and into the US and Canada are in total alignment.”
“We have experienced first-hand through our OpenGaming partnership that Scientific Games can take our games to the next level,” Säfbeck added. “This acquisition offers us a solid base to bring to market a wide range of exciting new slots more smoothly than ever to online casino partners across the globe.”
ELK Studios will continue to work independently to create new titles, while also utilizing Scientific Games’ resources. This refers to commercial scale, market expansion, support in US and Canada, game IP, and data analytics tools.
