Maxxi Labs: "Studios stay independent in how they build; the collective is what gets it to market"

Maxxi Labs is a creative collective of studios united by a shared ambition to elevate the iGaming experience. Its decentralized model allows each studio to retain its creative identity and competitive edge while benefiting from shared infrastructure, operational expertise, and a collective approach to innovation. In this interview, Maxxi Labs explains why it believes this model works, how it balances creative independence with commercial collaboration, and how it aims to deliver distinctive content that drives engagement and results.

Q: Maxxi Lab has emerged as a collective of studios operating under the same brand and understanding of what iGaming needs in terms of content. Was it easy to bring all participants together?

Not easy, but natural. Every studio we brought in already shared the same instinct: a genuine love of craft and a refusal to settle for generic content. That shared DNA made alignment far simpler than forcing six different studios into one mould. We didn't ask anyone to change who they are; we built the structure around letting them stay exactly that.

Q: When there are so many "chefs" in the kitchen, is it still efficient to plan, execute, and deliver content, or does this unique arrangement come with its own challenges?

It works because no one's cooking the same dish. Each studio owns its own creative direction, but we review every studio's individual roadmap centrally to keep the collective's overall release cadence steady: six to eight new games a month across the group. That central view is what turns six independent pipelines into one consistent flow, rather than six studios competing for the same release slot.

Q: You have specifically focused on what has been described as a decentralized collective model. How does this work, and where does decentralization end and the collective begin?

Decentralisation covers everything creative and technical: art direction, mechanics, studio identity, how each team builds. The collective covers everything commercial and operational: one integration point for operators, shared infrastructure, consistent compliance standards, and a single brand story tying it together. Studios stay independent in how they build; the collective is what gets it to market.

Q: Does the collective mean that studios are open to sharing mechanics, know-how, and land themselves development nous, or are all entities still retaining proprietary features that they guard specifically?

Each studio keeps ownership of its own mechanics and creative IP, it's what keeps six studios feeling like six distinct voices rather than one. What is shared is infrastructure, tooling and operational best practice, so studios spend their time on what makes them different rather than rebuilding the same plumbing six times over.

Q: Maxxi Labs is also leveraging a streamer-focused approach, which dictates how you engage with players and explore the market. What are the unique benefits of this approach and, conversely, its challenges?

The benefit is reach and authenticity: streamers are how our games get in front of players, and their communities respond to content that feels built for them, not repurposed from somewhere else. What we see on stream also feeds straight back into what we build next. The challenge is scaling that channel without losing what makes it work: the right creators, genuine reactions and games strong enough to keep players once the stream ends.

Q: Speaking of marketing pushes, with six studios churning content, does every studio get the same attention when it comes to pushing their games in the public’s eye, or is there internal strife? How does this work?

There's no fixed hierarchy. Visibility follows the release calendar and whichever games are being featured at the time, so every studio gets its moment tied to its own launch. If anything, having six studios pushing quality work creates healthy pressure to keep raising the bar, not competition over who gets the spotlight.

Q: Maxxi Labs has committed to building innovative gaming experiences - yet you also remain faithful to time-tested mechanics. How does this balance work? Where is the focus in designing new games, or does this vary depending on which studio is designing?

Every game starts from a real-time engagement question: what will actually make someone stop and share this, but that's built by teams with years of experience in proven mechanics and math, not from a blank page. Where that balance lands varies by studio: some lean further into experimental territory, others stay closer to genre-defining mechanics executed with real craft. That variation is a feature, not an inconsistency.

Q: Maxxi Labs is, of course, a new venture, but are you happy with the initial results so far?

It's early, but the start has been strong. We launched on 1st of September with six studios and are now live on Stake. Mad Ducks from Bad Company went live there on 16t September as a Stake exclusive and is showing very promising early activity, with wider availability from 30 September. The conversation the launch has started with operators, players and the industry is exactly what we hoped for. We're treating this as the opening move of a longer roadmap rather than a moment to declare victory.

Q: What are the key challenges ahead of Maxxi Labs?

With six studios now in place and more joining, the foundation is set. The challenge now is building on it without losing what makes it work. That means three things: keeping a steady roadmap across the collective; growing with new studios while each one stays distinct; and expanding the shared catalogue to include bespoke, exclusive content tailored to specific markets and operators. The first example is Rats and Ravens Coin Grid, which goes live on Stake in October as a Stake exclusive. It's a different kind of complexity from getting six studios aligned, and it's the work ahead of us now.

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