ELK Studios
ELK Studios is the Stockholm company that makes the Pirots pokies. It started in 2013 and describes its approach as quality over quantity. This page covers how the team puts a game together, what licences it holds and where to find it.
ELK Studios at a glance
| Detail | ELK Studios |
|---|---|
| Company | ELK Studios (ELKAB Studios AB, ELK Studios Malta Ltd) |
| Started | 2013, going by ELK |
| Home base | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Founders | Rickard Annell, Filip Säfbeck, Lars Rustemeier |
| First pokie | The Lab, 2013 |
| Best known for | X-iter, CollectR, Pirots, Nitropolis |
| Website | elk-studios.com |
How ELK puts a game together
ELK's about page breaks its work down into concept, artwork and maths. All three are easy to spot once you've played through the Pirots series.
The studio reckons its strongest ideas combine "a strong game model and an inspiring theme". In Pirots, CollectR is the model, and themes like pirates, the frontier and outer space change around it.
"We love crisp art" is how ELK puts it, adding that its in-house studio "leaves no room for taking shortcuts" on sound, animation and graphics. That's the company talking about itself, so load any free demo here and see what you think.
According to ELK, "The maths model is really where the game is defined." It says statistical modelling, cloud-based computing and big data go into developing, refining and verifying each game. Pirots shows the result: one flock of birds across six games, with volatility from 7 to 8 out of 10 on ELK's sheets and hit rates between 24.0% and 26.8%.
X-iter grew out of that thinking too. Rather than one bonus-buy button, you get a menu of paid modes at different prices, and whichever you pick changes how much risk you're taking on. Our game guides list those prices for each pokie.
What ELK is licensed for
ELK's about page lists supplier licences in three countries. Here they are, with the reference numbers it gives.
| Regulator | Licence holder | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Gambling Commission, Great Britain | ELKAB Studios AB | Account 40844 |
| Malta Gaming Authority | ELK Studios Malta Ltd | MGA/B2B/605/2018, B2B Critical Gaming Supply, Type 1, issued 27 February 2019 |
| Romania, Second Class | ELKAB Studios AB | 821/15.05.2020, producing and distributing specialised software |
| Romania, Second Class | ELKAB Studios AB | 820/15.05.2020, managing and hosting game platform facilities |
We read this list on ELK's about page on 2 November 2026. The footer there also carries AGCO (Canada) and HGC (Greece) logos, but with no reference numbers, so we've left them out of the table. All of this covers ELK as a supplier. None of it says anything about a casino that runs the games or about New Zealand, so check any casino separately. We have no connection to ELK ourselves, as our about page explains.
The people behind the pokies
ELK's careers page describes a team that's "+100 strong", based in an office in the heart of Stockholm, and names quality, innovation and entertainment as the backbone of its culture. Its about page sums it up with "Our passion is slots".
Vacancies come and go, so we don't list them here. If you work in games and want to see what's open, go to the ELK careers page.
Elk Pirots: what the studio made
People searching for elk pirots usually want either the first game or the whole series. The first arrived in March 2023 with CollectR, swapping paylines for birds and paying out each gem as it's collected.
The sequels kept that core and rebuilt everything around it. Pirots 2 by ELK brings seven amber levels. ELK Pirots 3 adds duels and a jailed Bandit. Pirots X from ELK trades CollectR for Cluster Pays. ELK Studios Pirots 4 packs three worlds into one game. Pirots 5 adds token progress that saves, plus several RTP versions.
You'll see them searched by name as well: Pirots 2 ELK, Elk Pirots 3, Pirots 4 ELK, Pirots X ELK. It's one studio's catalogue every time, and Pirots 4 ELK Studios is the game where the rules depend on the world that's live.
Every Pirots pokie from ELK
All six, each with its own guide and free demo.
Where CollectR began
Crossing on popcorn
Shootouts and a jailbreak
Spin-off on Cluster Pays
Three worlds, one game
Tokens that stay savedHow to reach ELK Studios
These are ELK's own contact details, taken from its website on 2 November 2026. We aren't part of the studio, so anything about this guide should come to us instead.
| Contact | Details |
|---|---|
| Office | ELK Studios AB, Vasagatan 16, 111 20 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Sales enquiries | [email protected] |
| Anything else | [email protected] |
| Careers | elk-studios.com/career |
| YouTube | ELK Studios channel |
| ELK Studios AB |
ELK Studios questions
ELK Studios, a developer based in Stockholm. All six games are theirs, from Pirots in 2023 through to Pirots 5 in 2026.
2013, going by ELK's own about page. A few directories say 2012, but we go with the studio.
ELK lists a Gambling Commission account in Great Britain (40844), a Malta Gaming Authority supplier licence (MGA/B2B/605/2018) and two Romanian licences. These apply to ELK as a supplier and tell you nothing about a casino, which you'd need to check on its own.
It's ELK's name for how the numbered Pirots games work. Birds move around the grid collecting touching gems of their own colour, and nothing pays on lines.
In central Stockholm. ELK's contact page gives the address as Vasagatan 16, 111 20 Stockholm, Sweden.
Who wrote this page
