Interview with Tiger Holmgren from Evolution

Sami Kurvinen

Published on: 19 March 2026

7 minutes

There are some individuals who work behind the scenes who deserve recognition, and one of the stars in the online casino space is Tiger Holmgren.

Who is Tiger? He’s one of the creators and masterminds behind the biggest slot hits you have ever played.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Enjoy!

CasinoWizard: Hi Tiger, thanks for chatting with us today for a quick Q&A. We want to give the spotlight to prominent professionals in our industry, and you are, without a doubt, one of them, with 24 years of experience in the online gaming industry. However, before anything else, want to share the story of your name change to Tiger, as that’s a funny one?

Tiger Holmgren: In 2014, I was attending a costume party dressed as a Tiger with a few friends from the industry who used to do stupid bets together. One of my friends challenged me to change my name to Tiger. In the moment I dismissed it, however, the second time he says. “I dare you to change your name, and I will give you 500sek (€50) if you change your name to Tiger” So I shook his hand and took the bet. 12 years later, my passport still says, Tiger.

CasinoWizard: You started your career as an affiliate manager, then held roles as casino manager and product owner, before pivoting to game design and development. Can you share how that transition happened, and if it was a natural progression for you?

Tiger Holmgren: The transition from the operator side, selling games, to creating games became pretty smooth. When I worked as a casino manager at Betsson Group, I was a part of doing exclusive games for our casino with a studio named NextGen.

I want to say that we created a very good game together, but in all honesty, they were the real creators of the game. Even if they made me feel like I had a big part in it. This really got me excited to keep making games, and I was offered a role as a game designer at Netent, working on a few good games and some shit ones.

CasinoWizard: What are the biggest challenges in creating entertaining online slots?

Tiger Holmgren: The hardest part for me is that we cannot play games for real money when designing the games. So, when we design the final math, we are pretty much playing in demo mode. There are so many nuances of the game that are hard to understand when you remove the emotions that your hard-earned money creates both in wins and losses.

CasinoWizard: You’ve been part of or even the main developer behind some of the biggest hits in the industry. Can you share some highlights and how you came up with these ideas, either on your own or with your teams?

Tiger Holmgren: I have been a part of creating some good games, such as Guns and Roses and Spinata Grande for Netent ages ago, Deco Diamonds for JFTW, Nitropolis, Pirots and some of the Cygnus and Gold games at ELK, Tanked and xWays Hoarder 2 for NLC, amongst others.

However, my highlights are the games that have failed, and failed hard. So a shout out to Sparks from Netent, Double Lucky line by JFTW, The Grand Galore and Taco Brothers Derailed at ELK and Munchies from NLC. They are the games that have taught me most about game design.

CasinoWizard: What’s the best part of creating online slots in your opinion?

Tiger Holmgren: Something I absolutely love about the creation is trying to figure out when people get excited in games. As a game designer, I try to create emotions in players, and with the streamer culture we have, we can now see people interacting with games in ways we didn’t see 10 years ago. And there is no better feeling than when a streamer sees the potential in a game and gets excited about what the game can deliver.

CasinoWizard: How quickly do you know if you got a hit, and how long do new average slots remain relevant?

Tiger Holmgren: I would like to say that we know before the game is released, but if I did that, it would be bullshit from my end. But we can see within a few days if a game is going to be a hit of mega hit. Relevance for lots fades fast. But that is also part of the business and the thrill of the chase to create a hit.

CasinoWizard: Do you see any issues with the number of new online slots being released monthly through all the various game studios?

Tiger Holmgren: No, not really. It is a crowded market. It’s understandable that many studios want to get in on the action. 15 years ago, I released 4 games a month as a casino manager, and each game got a headline spot in a newsletter and a bonus offer, and pretty much all of them performed.

The games 15 years ago are not a fraction of the fun we have now. So the competition makes us better and makes us work harder to refine the games we release.

CasinoWizard: How can you make a new slot stand out from the crowd?

Tiger Holmgren: Nowadays its harder to stand out. It’s gotten to the point where the Over the Limit games from Nolimit City, like Kenneth Must Die and Mental, hardly feel out of place anymore.

I think it’s more about building a strong brand and a solid direction of the games, and gaining the trust of players to stand out in the market today.

CasinoWizard: Today, you are part of the Evolution Gaming team and Nolimit City. What do you do over there right now?

Tiger Holmgren: I am focusing on changing the way NetEnt and Red Tiger work together with their product people. We are redefining the brands and the content that will be produced. This started mid-last year, but everything takes time.

Changes will start to show in the games from both companies during 2026. A little bit bolder and hopefully games that will catch your eye moving forward.

CasinoWizard: The first Dead or Alive from NetEnt is an iconic online slot, as it was the first of its kind in many ways, introducing players to a higher-volatility setting and entertaining sticky wilds. The sequel was also brilliant, but maybe a bit too risky for some, with its max win potential of 111,111x the stake. It’s an understatement to say that the expectation for Dead or Alive 3 is sky-high. Is this something you and your team feel as well? What can you share about the upcoming release?

Tiger Holmgren: Dead or Alive is an icon, so there is, of course, a lot of pressure on a follow-up title. At the same time, we had already taken the decision to step away from the old look and feel in favour of something that feels more cinematic, action-packed and rough.

We wanted to bring the game into what would be expected by a slot in 2026, at the same time, not take away things that are expected by the game.

Dead or Alive 3 still features multiplier wilds that become sticky in the free spins, landing a wild on each reel still retriggers 5 additional free spins, and 5 scatters have a huge payout. What we added in this game was a stacked Bounty Wild that collects the multipliers on all Wild symbols. So the chase is to collect the bounties from the wilds. When multiple Bounty Wilds land, they also collect the multipliers from each other for some insane outcomes.

We kept the Max Win at a reasonable 33.333x to celebrate the third version of the game. However, by playing the second Elevate Feature that removes the lowest multipliers, it is possible to hit a 66.666x true max win.