Inside Mad Hat Games: RubyPlay’s newest studio sets its creative vision

James Stewart, Founder of Mad Hat Games, and RubyPlay CPO Dr Eyal Loz discuss the studio’s role within the new multi-studio ecosystem and its ambitions for the 2026 World Cup.

Exclusive interview.- RubyPlay has unveiled Mad Hat Games as the latest addition to its new multi-studio content ecosystem, bringing a fresh creative energy and a growing roadmap of casual-first titles to the global stage. Led by industry veteran James Stewart under the strategic guidance of RubyPlay’s chief product officer, Dr Eyal Loz, the studio launched with Chili Strike and looks ahead to its next title, Goalinko, set to debut ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

In this exclusive joint interview with Focus Gaming News, Stewart and Loz discuss the studio’s vision, its role within RubyPlay’s wider ecosystem, and what players and partners can expect as Mad Hat accelerates its ambitions for 2026.

When you founded Mad Hat Games in late 2024, what was the creative vision from day one, and what do you want the ‘Mad Hat DNA’ to be known for?

James Stewart: Even before I joined, I have always taken a keen interest in RubyPlay’s content. Their expertise in game maths, in particular, always made them stand out for me. 

In late 2024, Eyal, who has been a friend for many years, suggested I join and help found a new studio to broaden RubyPlay’s content base.

We formulated a vision for Mad Hat as a studio that could tap into the growing casual games market, with slot innovation forming a core part of that vision from early on.

We want to focus on emerging markets as these tend to be dominated by younger adults looking for mobile phone entertainment. They want games that look and feel fresh. We focus on offering selectable volatility, lower bet options, and user-friendly game mechanics. 

Our main guiding light is this: Is it fun to play? 

Chili Strike was Mad Hat’s debut release. Why was this the right title to introduce the studio, and what did you learn from bringing your first game to market?

James Stewart: With Chili Strike, we decided to try something new – a casual game mechanic with a volatility and play rate closer to a slot game. 

RubyPlay’s players are slot players. We wanted to give them something simple but different. Chili Strike combines a familiar and successful casual mechanic – mines – with the volatility and gameplay variation that a dice roll brings. 

Chili Strike also has a Match 3 Bonus with natural odds, a feature tailored to appeal to casual game players who like to understand the maths they’re betting on.

With Goalinko launching ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, what excites you about blending Plinko-style mechanics with a popular football theme, and how does this reflect Mad Hat’s direction for 2026 and beyond?

James Stewart: Of course, the World Cup is huge, and it has particular appeal in some of the emerging markets Rubyplay is targeting. These markets have amazing growth potential, and we want to tailor our content for their players. 

Plinko is a classic – particularly with player-selected volatility. We’ve added a unique mechanic that can make a play session smash it – if you drop a ball that hits a gold corner, it triggers a Bonus Reel Spin that awards free balls. On the highest volatility, you can win 1000 free balls. 

RubyPlay has evolved into a studio-based content model. Strategically, what role does Mad Hat Games play within the ecosystem alongside Koala Games, Xslots and the bespoke content studio?

Dr Eyal Loz: Every venture success revolves around the people that make it. The Mad Hat studio, led by James, has a perfectly positioned team to lead disruptive and innovative projects. We wanted a studio that can experiment with different designs, technologies and infrastructure. Alongside our well-established studios, Mad Hat will take on high-risk, high-reward projects and enable us to embed new designs and technologies with more established studios within the company.

From a product standpoint, what makes Mad Hat meaningfully different, both creatively and commercially?

Dr Eyal Loz: Mad Hat is the first studio in the RubyPlay group to design and release Mine or Pachinko-style games. It has an innovative approach for taking on high-impact, yet simple slot mechanics and implementing them creatively. The team is made of industry veterans with decades of experience in creating core technology and designs in igaming, but with a slightly different mission – to make something crazy and different. This is why we all thought the name of the studio is so appropriate, and we see a few rabbits to be pulled out of this hat in the roadmap. 

Brazil and LatAm are key growth regions for RubyPlay. How do you see Mad Hat titles resonating with audiences in these markets?

Dr Eyal Loz: LatAm and Brazil in particular, is dominated by a younger audience. That is, young players that love wagering games, and are yet to be exposed to more complex classic slot mechanics. There is a huge effort from many B2C players in Brazil to introduce audiences to highly engaging slot content. The ability to engage with both audiences in Brazil – players who love simple wagering games, and players who love simple slot content is what makes Mad Hat so highly relevant for the Brazil market.