20+ years in the gambling industry including 13+ years playing and reviewing slots.
Founded in 2014 and releasing slot games since 2019, Gaming Corps is an up-and-coming slot provider that is making quite a stir. Available at more and more slot sites in the UK, I spoke to Head of Games Connor Blinman about the company’s journey, how slots are created, their most popular games, Gates of Hellfire, branded titles and the future.
If you want to try their games, there are free demo slots for both Gates of Hellfire and Snoop’s High Rollers with more being added soon. In the meantime, enjoy the most comprehensive and in-depth Questions & Answers style interview I’ve ever been a part of.
Q: Can you tell us a little about Gaming Corps and the journey since it was founded?
CB: “Gaming Corps is a small development studio based in Sweden with employees from around the world and diverse backgrounds.
We were founded in 2014 as a traditional gaming company and became a supplier of iGaming products in 2019 after getting our Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) licence.
Since then, we have created a vast array of products across multiple different verticals. Most recently we took it upon ourselves to inject new product types into the market, such as Smash4Cash™ and now our latest X-MY-WAY games.
In addition to this, we have plenty of alternative content such as mines, plinko and crash products as well as more traditional offerings such as slots and table games.
We lead a multi-pronged strategy across these verticals to deliver products for everybody.
We are a publicly listed company traded on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market and are creating games by players, for players. Our team consists of dedicated professionals who love to play the types of products they create.”
Q: What percentage of players play on mobile vs desktop/tablet devices? Has this influenced your design in any way?
CB: “We see approximately 75% of players playing on mobile vs desktop, with a small subset on both devices. This mobile-first figure is absolutely something that is growing year upon year as technology advances.
As a result, we are designing games with a mobile-first approach, even a mobile portrait-first approach.
Realistically, if the game functions and looks fantastic on your smallest screen, mobile portrait in this case, it will look good everywhere else too.
That’s why every mock-up we create, animation we deliver, and subsequent review takes place on a mobile portrait in the first instance, before moving to other devices.”
Q: How are new slot games created? What’s the process?
CB: “They are created with passion by a team that takes pride in creating high quality content.
Whether we are creating an innovative slot game such as Gates of Hellfire or Hoop Champion, or a simplistic game such as Easter Plinko, we always put our all into the games we create.
The process varies from product line to product line, but fundamentally, for a new slot game the process goes something like this:
Game ideas are formulated by key stakeholders, usually the product owner and the mathematician. They hash out the game mechanics and pair it neatly with a theme, working with the art director and artists to conjure up a concept image.
This entire phase is known as the concept phase. The milestones are built and the release planned in principle.
After this, the game goes into a pre-development phase, where the mathematician begins creating the game and the artists begin finalising particular symbols.
After an initial math model is delivered, we tweak the game based on feedback. The math then goes to the backend team, and we begin to develop the game.
Then, after the backend is produced, we begin creating the frontend. Animations are well under way by this stage and are delivered to the team. We playtest, playtest, playtest, and constantly iterate on the game until we are happy with it.
The game gets sent for certification and is cross-referenced for all regulations in our markets. After it undergoes final polishing and the timings are perfected, the game is ready for release.”
Q: How does Gaming Corps plan to distinguish themselves versus other slot providers?
CB: “We are not a one trick pony, creating a single style of product that caters to a single type of player. We have a multi-pronged strategy for 2025 to create many products with all player types in mind.
Gaming Corps will be offering new types of gaming experiences that players won't be able to find from other providers.
If we take our two most recent releases, Gates of Hellfire and Wet and Wild Beavers, we have created unique products in the way they play, from the moment you press spin to the second you get paid out.
Looking further ahead at this year, we have at least four new products offering something never seen before.”
Q: What are Gaming Corps’ most popular slot games? Are there any that are particularly popular only in the UK?
CB: “Our line of Bonus Pot products, Aztec Bonus Pot and Egypt Bonus, are particularly popular in the UK.
They have a straightforward cash collect mechanic and synchronised reels as well as a Bonus Pot flare in the free spins which gives the player plenty of potential. We are looking at launching the third game in the series, 3 Pigs of Olympus Bonus Pot, in March (2025).
We also have our Rapid Hold and Win series, showcased in Paddy's Payouts, Vegas Payouts and then there’s Fire & Freedom, launching in February. This series is a classic hold and win game with a killer math model that averages well over 500 spins on certain casino sites. We also have recently launched Gates of Hellfire, which smashed our single day record in terms of bets.”
Q: Can you tell us a little about Gates of Hellfire?
CB: “Gates of Hellfire is our latest innovative product, defined as a AAA slot because the game was produced with the traditional gaming practices in mind.
The slot showcases an entirely new unique payout system. After pressing spin, players will land enemies in the 5x5 grid as well as Weapons on the weapon reel. Each weapon has properties that determine how it shoots and how much damage it does, and each enemy has a health bar associated with it.
Destroying the enemy will award an associated prize, meaning the game is high octane action from start to finish.
There is a Bonus feature that takes the player on a journey of defeating bosses all the way up to 5000x total bet.
It really is a game that has no counterparts on the market, and the high production values, quality art and fantastic soundtrack combine to make it an experience to remember.”
Q: What else can we expect from Gaming Corps in 2025?
CB: “In short, we’ll be releasing several highly innovative slot games.
At least six games, including Gates of Hellfire, are promised to be of AAA production quality and will include new mechanics and cool features that will have players coming back for more.
We are also continuing to release our signature Smash4Cash™ games – for example, Piggy Smash 2, our successor to the original Smash4Cash™, will launch in May (2025). We will also explore further Smash4Cash™ games later in June, with a fishing product and another couple of releases in H2.
Further to this, we are innovating once more with our new mechanic, called X-MY-WAY where players have a chance to play the game and win multiplier prizes in their own way.”
Q: Hoop Champion is built around a brand-new Mechanic X-MY-WAY, can you tell us a little bit more about how this works and the process behind its inception?
CB: “We really wanted players to play an instant prize game with a cashout functionality in their own way.
We also wanted to adapt real-world scenarios with this mechanic to further emphasise the importance and understanding of risk = reward.
X-MY-WAY is a brand-new mechanic allowing players to take their own path to the maximum multiplier on offer. So, no more linear approach to a gameplay experience with a set path to get to 1000x. The aim of the game here is for the player to define how they want to play.
Do you want to take the low volatility route or the high volatility route? Or do you want to move between strategies on the fly and optimise your risk vs reward? That’s all for the player to decide for themselves.”
Q: Further to releasing Snoop’s High Rollers, do you plan to create more branded slots in the future?
CB: “Following Snoop’s High Rollers, we are always on the lookout for intellectual property that we can combine with one of our games. It is absolutely something that we are interested in doing more of.”
Q: Do you have a particular favourite slot from Gaming Corps? If so, why?
CB: “It has to be Gates of Hellfire for me, and I'm not just saying that because it is one of our newest!
It is such a cool experience, the production value is insanely high, and it feels like you are playing a video game. I’m very proud of what we have created with all our slots, but this one stands out in particular.”
