ELA Games: The claw that captured players
In this article, brought to you by ELA Games, the studio discusses the ongoing challenge between igaming suppliers to create differentiated products to capture players’ attention, focusing on its new game, Cash Crab, which combines a classic arcade machine with a live online community
Igaming suppliers constantly compete with each other in the fight for players’ attention as they try to create notable, differentiated products. Sometimes healthy competition leads to surprising results and ours, at ELA Games, was Cash Crab, a game which has since exceeded all our expectations.
Cash Crab
The studio’s creative masterminds cooked up some great out-of-the-box ideas combining exceptional art with unusual takes on gambling, which led to remarkable results. Inspired by our very first office in an old arcade, the essence of the Cash Crab game is partially revealed in its name in that it replicates the very popular arcade claw machine, which is activated by a lever that players control as they attempt to grab the prize on offer. ELA Games took this concept and brought it to the digital world, combining it with video streaming and a digital interface that opens up new game mechanics and community-building activities with player-to-player chat and a bet-behind feature.
A spotlight is shining on ELA Games in 2024 as we have been shortlisted in the skill games supplier category of the EGR B2B Awards, more specifically for its Cash Crab game. The game, which also comes with the Bonus Crab title, has experienced remarkable growth in the past year, with player numbers increasing 144% since it first launched in January 2023. The studio also reported a 200% increase in revenue, and the number of rounds (average bet size €3) played has increased 149% over the same period. An interesting point was the growth of the gaming community.
ELA Games’ business owner, Mike Cini, said: “Cash Crab and Bonus Crab are amazing projects for us. The ELA Games team took a classic arcade game and upgraded it into the skill betting community game you see today with great features such as a tournament table, a timer and the ability to bet on each other.
“Checking the stats, over 3,500 players participated in tournaments last month and that number is growing steadily,” he added.
Our games
ELA Games regularly decides to experiment and release unique content concepts such as the instant-win shooter Bandidos Bang! or the visually rich online slot Kraken Bay, which was presented at ICE London 2024, as well as a lot of colourful games inspired by creative themes from ancient gods’ treasures in Cash of Gods, to an Hawaiian surfers’ party in brand new Big Wave Delight. The team’s designers work hard to improve the user experience to appeal to players, including influencing metrics for the growth and retention of new audiences.
The friendly ‘geek’ atmosphere of the studio and the love of detail in the design and development teams help to create a unique diversified portfolio driven by the regional characteristics of the new countries where ELA Games products are presented.
Our plans for growth
During the last 12 months, ELA Games successfully passed the licensing requirements of the ONJN in Romania, SGA in Sweden and was recognised by the Malta Gambling Authority (MGA). We are quite open about our future direction of travel; the studio has already seen impressive results in these markets and has ambitious plans to expand further.
Cini commented: “We recently secured a licence in Denmark and have just returned from São Paulo, Brazil, where we made some exciting agreements with new partners and were inspired by the discussions we had with industry peers.
“ELA Games has made a lot of noise in Europe, and now we’re going into Latin America with plans to create content with a regional audience in mind.”
Looking to future growth, ELA Games will be releasing new games every month and taking part in major industry events. The team is really looking forward to being present at the EGR B2B Awards ceremony on 13 June as well as further industry events and tradeshows.
As we prepare to launch new game concepts, ELA Games looks forward to showcasing them to the industry, developing business partnerships, and gaining the audience and industry recognition our high-quality products deserve.
About ELA Games
ELA Games is an innovative game provider in the igaming industry, geared towards creating an immersive experience for players through engaging titles. Since its formation in 2021, the business has been working to establish a strong reputation in the sector through its games’ top-quality graphics, highly interactive nature and innovative gameplay. In under a year, the studio has produced a total of 26 games for players’ enjoyment. Our goal is to provide a safe and fun gaming experience for all our players while also creating the hottest game titles around to appeal to every kind of player out there.
ELA Games is a young company in the market of modern gambling game providers. Founded in 2021, the studio – which uses the slogan “For players, by players” – has released 26 online game titles that combine quality designs with catchy game mechanics. Under the leadership of Mike Cini, ELA Games’ business owner, the plan is to increase output from one new title per month to two.