How Hacksaw Gaming became the studio everyone copies

The 2018 scratchcard start

Hacksaw was founded in Sweden in 2018 by two brothers, Marcus and Robin Cordes, alongside a small team that believed online scratchcards still had room to grow. Their first products were not slots at all. They were instant-win titles with sharp art and fast rounds, aimed at operators looking for something different next to the usual grid of slot tiles.

Pivot to video slots

Scratchcards were a foothold, not a plan. By 2020 the studio had shifted most of its resources into video slots. The early output was inconsistent in places, but the look and the sound design stood out immediately. A lot of studios ship slots that feel interchangeable. Hacksaw's early slots felt like they came from a single opinionated art department.

Breakthrough: Chaos Crew

Chaos Crew, released in late 2021, was the title that broke Hacksaw into casino lobbies that previously reserved front-page real estate for the biggest studios. Four cartoon characters, a punchy feature engine, and a streetwear aesthetic that had more in common with a Supreme drop than a Vegas carpet. Try the Chaos Crew demo here.

Release cadence and cultural fit

Hacksaw now ships more than one new slot a week on average, with 239 titles already live at the time of writing. That cadence, combined with a strong house style in titles like Wanted Dead or a Wild and Hand of Anubis, has given Hacksaw shelf space most studios need a decade to earn.

What comes next

The studio's next test is keeping quality consistent at scale. Releasing a slot a week is easy. Releasing a slot a week that players want to return to is a different problem. So far the evidence suggests Hacksaw has the team to manage it.