In February of last year, the Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening act of a much larger growth narrative, according to MTG president and chief executive Maria Redin.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a bold vision after the Plarium acquisition: to double its overall size once again. “We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she said. “And yes, we want to fuel and continue to drive organic growth, but in order to do that, we will need to do more acquisitions.” The timetable for that ambition is aggressive – Redin aims to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years. She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the capacity to scale quickly: “We set the same ambition in 2021 – and I think we tripled.” The mobile market, once characterised by double‑digit expansion, has now settled into a single‑digit growth environment, reflecting a maturing industry.
What was once a blue ocean of untapped users has become a crowded, highly competitive arena where growth often means taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. Acquiring companies is the easier half of the equation; integrating them into a cohesive operation is notoriously difficult. The games sector is littered with cautionary tales of poorly managed mergers that resulted in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear integration roadmap.
Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (creator of Forge of Empires), Snowprint (Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (Merge Gardens). These studios were grouped into two “districts”: a Casual District and a Midcore District – the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences.
Following the acquisition, the districts were rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio – games that rely on in‑app purchases. Redin says the rebranding is only the surface of a deeper cultural shift.
She envisions building “one of the leading gaming villages,” a phrase chosen deliberately to evoke a sense of community and belonging. “It is supposed to create something that people want to be part of,” she explained, emphasizing employee retention and seamless integration as critical to the success of a rapidly expanding conglomerate. “Gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions,” Redin remarked.
“People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to create an environment for them to thrive. We buy companies because we want the founders and teams to stay on board after the deal – that’s when the real story begins and you continue to scale the businesses. The only way to make sure they stay is to build a workplace they enjoy.” Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its studios – a move that only became feasible at scale after Plarium joined the group.
Redin, who became CEO in 2020, said the vision for a unified tech stack was always present, but the Plarium acquisition provided the necessary size to roll it out fully. The company is careful not to repeat the pitfalls seen elsewhere.
EA’s forced adoption of the Frostbite engine caused major headaches for teams working on titles like Mass Effect. MTG, by contrast, treats the needs of Playsimple and Playamp as distinct. “Playsimple’s tech stack will be the foundation for future casual‑district companies. For Midcore, we have selected parts of Plarium’s tech suite to use group‑wide, but we are rolling it out selectively to ensure the end game benefits all companies,” Redin said.
Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑data platform are now shared across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality. Redin expects these tools to boost studio output: “We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck. We have amazing game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge them with a tech suite they can leverage.” Generative AI is another pillar of MTG’s modernization.
InnoGames, for example, has been using AI to generate all content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its catalogue. Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in production pipelines across the mobile sector. “Generative AI is significantly more powerful than any other tool we’ve had before.
We are all trying to find the right balance – where to change workflow, where to keep it, and where AI can add the most value.” The company is adding AI layers to existing tools for A/B testing, graphics, quality assurance and more. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite for broader use. “We need to allow our studios to experiment, as long as it fits within our overarching AI framework.
When one team develops something great, we can quickly roll it out at scale.” When asked whether AI is now a prerequisite for competing in the mobile market, Redin cautioned against over‑hyping. “I often get the question, is gaming AI going to be able to do everything you do? I don’t think so. Creativity remains a uniquely human asset.
However, if we don’t embrace AI we will fall behind competitors. AI can supercharge our work, fill capacity gaps, and help us deliver games faster and better.” Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s earnings now come from the Playamp division, with the casual side (Playsimple) contributing roughly 20 %.
Redin is eager to grow both sides. “We bought Snowprint a couple of years back; if we could find five more Snowprints around the world that would be fantastic. On the casual side we would like to add more scale.” She hinted at the possibility of a third district, built around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data assets, though the exact shape remains undefined.
Regarding the game pipeline, Redin notes that the top‑ten mobile titles change little year over year, reinforcing MTG’s belief in evergreen IPs. “Our thesis from day one has been to invest in evergreen IPs.
Raid has many years ahead of it, but we also need a pipeline of new games.” She acknowledges the difficulty of launching successful new titles, citing Supercell’s recent struggles with its Squad Busters incubator, but stresses that a fresh‑game pipeline is essential for maintaining studio DNA, creativity, and passion. In the broader context of a maturing market, Redin remains optimistic.
“We have three billion gamers worldwide – it is a compelling market. Competition for attention with streaming, social media, etc., is real, but I still believe there is growth. We won’t see the hyper‑growth of the past; we’re looking at low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit growth.
To exceed that, we must double‑down on strong evergreen IPs and continue bringing new games to market."