In February of last year, the Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the developer behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening move in a broader expansion plan, according to MTG’s president and chief executive, Maria Redin. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the acquisition of Plarium was a stepping stone toward a second doubling of the group’s scale. “We set out the vision last year that after bringing Plarium into the fold we want to double again,” she explained.
“Organic growth will still be a core driver, but to reach that target we’ll need to pursue further acquisitions.” The timeline she cites is aggressive: MTG aims to achieve the next‑to‑double in roughly three to five years. The ambition is not new; Redin noted that the company set a similar goal in 2021 and, in her view, succeeded in tripling its size since then. The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. Where double‑digit growth once characterized the sector, the market has now settled into single‑digit expansion as it matures.
What was once a blue ocean of untapped users has become a crowded, red‑filled arena where any additional growth typically comes from taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. Buying companies is the easy half of the equation; integrating them is where many firms stumble. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of acquisitions that resulted in studio closures due to poor integration. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap.
Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (known for Forge of Empires), Snowprint (Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (Merge Gardens). These studios were organized into two “districts”: a Casual District and a Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between purely casual and hardcore experiences.
Following the acquisition, the districts were rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple, named after the India‑based studio behind WordTrip, focuses on free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp houses the in‑app‑purchase‑driven games that now make up the bulk of MTG’s revenue. Redin emphasizes that the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change.
She wants to create what she calls “one of the leading gaming villages,” a community‑oriented concept designed to foster employee loyalty and smooth integration of newly acquired teams. “Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making,” she said.
“People are our greatest asset, but they only thrive in an environment they enjoy. When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to stay, because that’s when the real story begins and we can scale the business together.” A key part of the post‑Plarium integration has been the standardisation of technology and tools across the group. Redin notes that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; a unified platform can drive efficiency.
This push for standardisation began when she took the helm in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after Plarium joined MTG. The experience of other publishers serves as a warning. Electronic Arts, for example, forced its studios to adopt the proprietary Frostbite engine, creating significant friction for teams working on titles such as Mass Effect. MTG is careful to avoid a one‑size‑fits‑all approach.
The Playsimple division uses a tech foundation that will serve future casual acquisitions, whereas the Midcore (Playamp) side is selectively adopting components of Plarium’s technology suite. Redin explains that the group conducted a thorough internal audit to decide where sharing tools makes sense and where it does not. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and its product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system have already been rolled out across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality. The goal is to maximise the return on investment by giving studios a robust, shared infrastructure while still allowing them to innovate.
Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s growth strategy. InnoGames, for instance, has been using generative AI to produce content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to broaden AI‑generated assets across its portfolio. Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in many stages of game production—A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and more. Successful AI tools developed in one studio are being integrated into the broader Plarium tech suite, creating a feedback loop that accelerates adoption.
When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creators, Redin is cautious. She believes creativity remains uniquely human and that AI should be viewed as an accelerator rather than a substitute. “If we ignore AI, we’ll fall behind competitors,” she warned. “But we must retain the creative spark of our teams and use AI to amplify their work, whether that’s filling capacity gaps in coding, art, or complex logic.” Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp district, with the remaining 20 % generated by the single studio currently operating under Playsimple.
Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She mentions that MTG acquired Snowprint a few years ago and would love to replicate that success by finding “five more Snowprints” worldwide. On the casual front, she envisions adding more studios to increase scale.
Looking ahead, Redin hints at a possible third district that would sit alongside Playsimple and Playamp. While the exact focus is still undefined, she suggests it would leverage the group’s core capabilities—perhaps a unit centered on advanced marketing platforms or data analytics. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin remains confident in the sector’s long‑term potential. She points out that the top‑ten mobile games list changes very little each year, underscoring the value of evergreen IPs.
MTG’s strategy, therefore, balances investment in proven titles like Raid with the development of new games to keep the pipeline fresh. She acknowledges the difficulty of launching successful new titles, citing Supercell’s recent struggles with its Squad Busters incubator, but argues that without new IPs the studios would lose the creative DNA that fuels innovation. In Redin’s view, the mobile gaming market still houses roughly three billion players, making it a compelling arena despite competition from streaming services, social media, and other forms of digital entertainment.
Growth rates may have settled into low‑ to mid‑single‑digit percentages, but she believes that by strengthening evergreen franchises and introducing fresh experiences, MTG can continue to expand in a market that, while no longer hyper‑growing, remains robust and full of opportunity.