Swintt acquired Elysium Studios earlier this year. What has the process of integrating the companies together been like?

It’s all gone incredibly smoothly. We have great respect for the team at Elysium Studios and their know-how when it comes to developing innovative, mobile-first titles that cater to a more modern audience, so we didn’t really want to change too much on that side of things. Where we did feel Swintt could add some expertise following the acquisition, however, was through the use of our existing network and infrastructure – effectively ensuring that all of these great games could be seen by more players in more markets. By pooling our collective resources and creating the Elysium Studios line-up, I think we’ve developed a range of titles that will not only appeal to our existing players, but also help us to acquire new ones too.

Is the business in a significantly stronger position post-acquisition?

Definitely. One of the main reasons for acquiring Elysium Studios was to help us achieve a higher overall standard of slot games that feature great graphics and innovative features – and you only need to look at titles like Law of Gilgamesh and the recently-released I Hate Fairytales to see what a huge success the acquisition has been on that front. A further benefit of adding the Elysium Studios line-up to our product portfolio has been the fact that these games have all been developed with a mobile-first mindset and incorporate elements of casino, video and social gaming into their mechanics. This means they’re perfect for catering to modern audiences like the ones that we’re now targeting in the UK and Ontario.

Will Swintt continue to explore potential further acquisitions in the future?

I’d say in terms of full-on acquisitions, at the moment we’re pretty happy with what we’ve got. Obviously if the right opportunity to expand our business comes up, we definitely won’t turn it down, but for the foreseeable future we’re mainly focused on broadening and strengthening the line-up that we offer through Elysium Studios. One thing that we will be looking to do, however, is to continue partnering with boutique, third-party studios to help them release their content via our SwinttStudios programme.

You’re preparing to release your new Christmas-themed slot, Chessmas. What is the value of creating timely, themed games like these?

We’ve definitely seen in the past that there’s a huge appetite among players for seasonal games, but with so many competitors producing similarly themed slots over the Christmas period, the trick is to create something that’s innovative and unique. At the end of the day, a good game is a good game regardless of its theme or when it was released, and we know from slots like Golden Reindeer that Christmas-inspired titles can have lasting appeal with players long after the holiday season is over. This is the kind of success that we’re aiming to replicate with Chessmas, so we did what we could to help the game stand out in the market by adding unique wilds that move across the reels like chess pieces and a fun, board-game style bonus.

How soon do you expect players to start playing Chessmas? Will you start your Christmas celebrations early this year?

If the decorations are already going up and advent calendars are already on sale, who are we to postpone the Christmas celebrations until December?! We’re planning to launch Chessmas approximately one month before the big day, with an official release date of November 28th ensuring players can fill their stockings with huge wins of up to 9,021x their bet and start getting into the Christmas spirit early. Of course, as I mentioned in my previous answer, the big hope for Chessmas is that it will be an engaging title that offers lasting appeal for players long after the holiday season is over, so we’re all very excited to discover how it will perform.

What unique features or elements does Chessmas bring to players?

Chessmas combines the cosy Christmas setting of Santa’s workshop with an exciting, chess-based mechanic that provides a fresh new take on the holiday slot genre. At the start of each round, a separate wheel will spin to reveal either a win multiplier or a symbol to become wild, with any instances of that icon then taking on the characteristics of a specific chess piece. The reindeer wild, for example, moves like a knight in an L-shape, while the snowman expands diagonally like a bishop – and whenever either happens, big wins are sure to follow. The bonus, meanwhile, sees players roll dice to move around a board collecting multipliers and was designed to replicate the feeling of families coming together and playing games at Christmas.

Where will the game be made available?

Chessmas will soon be available at all of our partner casinos across a diverse range of markets including Malta, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Of those, we’re especially looking forward to seeing how the game is received by players in Sweden and the UK, as these two countries are prime locations for us to tap into the more modern online casino demographic that Elysium Studios games are specifically designed for.

How did Swintt and Elysium collaborate to create the game?

We did what any good game developers should do and analysed the market to learn what was currently out there and what we were up against. We then used this information to identify areas that we could potentially differentiate Chessmas from other Christmas-themed titles, which is what ultimately led to us landing on our “game of chess in Santa’s workshop” theme. As I said, the goal was to offer something original that still retained a cosy, Christmas charm and I think we definitely achieved that with the slot’s festive setting and unique wild mechanic.