Elk Studios heads to the US following Scientific Games acquisition

Scientific Games has acquired Elk Studios in a merger which strengthens the former’s igaming content offering and production capabilities. 

Scientific Games has acquired Elk Studios in a merger which strengthens the former’s igaming content offering and production capabilities. 

Lauding “another important step,” the addition of Elk to Scientific Games’ portfolio of brands continues the company’s investment to enhance its presence within the digital market. Moreover, the addition of the Stockholm-based developer’s in-house games portfolio has bolstered the firm’s capacity for creating igaming content. 

“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 of Scientific Games. “The ELK Studios team is packed with talent and enhances our existing in-house teams and capabilities. 

“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.”

The merger will see Elk’s titles, such as Wild Toro II, Kathmandu and Cygnus, along with tools such as X-iter – which allows players to jump into special predefined modes – available on Scientific platforms. Furthermore, Scientific Games will look to take Elk’s content into the US and Canadian markets whilst further enhancing its position in the UK and Europe. 

Filip Säfbeck, CEO at Elk Studios, said, “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. 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. 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 is already live with a wide range of operators through the OpenGaming ecosystem. The studio will continue to work independently to create new titles, while also benefiting from Scientific Games’ comprehensive range of resources including commercial scale, market expansion, support in the US and Canada, game IP and data analytics tools.

Dylan Slaney, CEO igaming at Scientific Games, added: “We have had a strategic partnership with Elk Studios for a number of years and its games have performed brilliantly across the OpenGaming platform. 

“Elk is one of the most innovative, and top-ranked studios in igaming. 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.”

The latest deal by Scientific Games follows recent high-profile igaming acquisitions of slot developer Lightning Box and premium live casino solutions provider Authentic Gaming.