If you want an example of how the rise of social and mobile gaming is shaking up the industry, there's no better example than London-based Slightly Mad Studios.

Through various names and owners, the bulk of its team have been making highly regarded hardcore racing sims such as GT Legends, and most recently the Need for Speed: Shift series for a decade.

Now however, co-founders Ian Bell and Andy Garton have set up Gamagio, a studio focused on mobile, social and browser games.

We caught up with business director Dom Duhan - who works across Slightly Mad and Gamagio - to find out more.

PocketGamer: Why the move from racing sims to casual games?

Dom Duhan: We have wanted to expand our horizons for a while now. We have a really strong team and want to try and change the space as we've done with racing games, although that's not to say we won't leave racing alone. We're always passionate about racing.

Should we expect racing games from Gamagio?

Initially no, but I'm sure there will be a crossover later in the year.

Is Gamagio part of Slightly Mad games or a new outfit?

It's a separate, completely independent, entity from Slightly Mad. Although, with my Slightly Mad Studios hat on, I should say there's a great opportunity for a publisher to nail that team for triple-A projects.

It's one of the UK's strongest teams in terms of expertise - on average our guys have worked in the industry for 16 years - and it owns the Madness 2 engine which is constantly being improved to remain best in field. This foundation allows us to bring new and fresh ideas to the plate.

How will Gamagio use its development experience when it comes to social and mobile gaming?

Many of our team have worked on mobile and social games previously, so this felt like a natural progression. We are all mad mobile gamers and the social gaming takes us back to when we were playing SimCity

Will Gamagio be self publishing its titles?

We are looking to self-publish: luckily the market allows us to do that. However, we're always looking for partners who can add value to our games.

You mentioned your engine supports HTML5 and WebGL, but how do you expect to monetise this free-to-play platform?

The freemium model works for us and our games, and the social space is so huge we would be foolish not to engage players directly.

What's your view on tablets?

I was a big iPad sceptic before it came out, but within a month, I had one and I love it. Apple has set the benchmark, and I see tablets replacing desktops and laptops, becoming the norm.

I think over the next couple of years, we'll see huge growth especially when good devices with lower price points come to market.

Thanks to Dom for his time.

You can see what Gamagio gets up to via its website.