In February of last year, the Swedish entertainment conglomerate Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That transaction, while already a headline‑grabber, appears to be only the opening move in a much larger strategic play.
"We set out the vision last year that, after bringing Plarium into the fold, we want to double the group again," MTG’s president and chief executive Maria Redin told GamesIndustry.biz. "We will continue to push organic growth, but to do that we’ll need to make more acquisitions." Redin’s timetable for this ambitious scaling is three to five years – a bold horizon, yet she points out that the company has already proven its capacity to expand quickly. "We set the same ambition in 2021 and, in fact, we tripled our size," she recalled, underscoring MTG’s track record of rapid enlargement.
The mobile gaming sector, once characterized by double‑digit expansion, has now settled into single‑digit growth as the market matures. What was once a blue ocean of untapped opportunity has turned a deep red, meaning that future growth will largely come from capturing rivals’ market share or outright acquiring them. Acquisitions are the easy part; the real challenge lies in integrating new studios without disrupting their creative engines.
The industry is littered with cautionary tales of failed mergers that resulted in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap.
Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile developers, including InnoGames (the team behind 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”: the Casual District for lighter, ad‑supported games, and the Midcore District for titles that sit between casual and hardcore experiences. The recent rebranding renamed these districts as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple now houses free‑to‑play, ad‑driven titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s in‑app‑purchase (IAP) driven portfolio.
The renaming is more than cosmetic. Redin says the goal is to create "one of the leading gaming villages," a phrase chosen deliberately to evoke a sense of community and belonging.
"It’s meant to build something people want to be part of," she explained, emphasizing that employee retention and cultural integration are paramount when a company swallows many studios in rapid succession. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin noted.
"People are our biggest asset, but we must also provide an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board because that’s when the real story begins – scaling the business together. The only way to ensure they stay is to create a workplace they enjoy." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and toolsets across its ecosystem. Redin says this push began when she became CEO in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only arrived with Plarium’s integration.
"Not everything needs to be built uniquely for each studio," she said, noting that the standardisation effort is being applied selectively, recognizing the differing needs of Playsimple and Playamp. The experience of other publishers serves as a cautionary backdrop. Electronic Arts’ attempt to force all its studios onto the Frostbite engine caused significant friction, especially for teams working on titles like Mass Effect.
MTG is careful to avoid a one‑size‑fits‑all approach. "Playsimple’s tech stack will become the foundation for future casual acquisitions, while for Midcore we are adopting parts of Plarium’s suite, but we’re rolling it out selectively to ensure the end result benefits all studios," Redin explained. Key components of Plarium’s infrastructure—its GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system—are already being leveraged across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality.
The aim is to maximise impact: "We want to invest where we get the biggest bang for our buck," Redin said, highlighting the desire to super‑charge Playamp studios with a robust, shared tech suite. Generative AI is another pillar of MTG’s modernization agenda. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village for some time and plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its portfolio.
Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in production pipelines across the mobile sector. "We’re all having similar conversations about how to adopt new technology," she said, adding that generative AI is "significantly more powerful than any tool we’ve had before." The company’s AI strategy focuses on augmenting existing workflows rather than replacing them. AI layers are being added to tools for A/B testing, graphics generation, quality assurance, and more. Successful AI solutions from individual MTG studios are being folded into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid dissemination of best practices.
"We let studios experiment within our AI framework, share learnings, and then roll out the most effective innovations at scale," Redin explained. When asked whether AI will eventually render human designers obsolete, Redin was cautious.
"I often get asked if gaming AI will be able to do everything we do. I don’t think so. The creativity of our talent isn’t something AI can replicate yet," she said.
"But if we ignore AI, we’ll fall behind competitors. Embracing it lets us move faster and produce better games while preserving the human spark that makes games special." Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp district, with the remaining 20 % generated by the single casual studio Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides. "We bought Snowprint a few years ago; finding five more studios like Snowprint would be fantastic.
On the casual side, we’d like to add more scale," she said. While the company is focused on expanding Playamp and Playsimple, Redin hinted at the possibility of a third district in the future, likely centred around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics. Despite the rapid changes in the broader market, the top‑ten mobile games list remains remarkably stable. "Every year we run the same analysis and see the same titles at the top," Redin observed, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs.
The strategy, therefore, blends investment in proven franchises—like Raid, which still has many years of life ahead—with a commitment to a steady pipeline of new titles. Creating successful new games is increasingly difficult. Ilkka Paananen of Supercell warned that the western mobile market is "coasting," noting that only two of the 22 mobile games that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originated in the West.
Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled; its recent project Squad Busters was shuttered after a brief launch in 2024. Redin acknowledges these challenges but stresses the importance of fresh IP for maintaining a studio’s creative DNA.
"Plarium has a new title slated for soft launch early next year. Not investing in new games would erode the creative drive that fuels our studios," she said. Looking at the macro picture, Redin believes the market remains compelling despite its maturity. "We have three billion gamers worldwide.
Competition for attention with streaming services and social media is real, but there is still growth potential," she affirmed. While hyper‑growth may be a thing of the past, low‑ to mid‑single‑digit growth is still achievable, provided companies continue to nurture evergreen franchises and bring innovative new experiences to market.
In summary, MTG’s roadmap under Maria Redin combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, and strategic AI adoption, all aimed at doubling the company’s size within the next few years while preserving the creative spirit that drives its games.