In February of the previous 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 transaction, while already sizable, appears to be just the opening move in a much larger strategic play.
"Last year we set a vision that after bringing Plarium into the fold we would aim to double our scale once more," MTG’s president and chief executive Maria Redin told GamesIndustry.biz. "We will continue to drive organic growth, but to achieve that we must pursue additional acquisitions." Redin’s timeline is bold: the company hopes to realize the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year window. She points out that MTG has already demonstrated an ability to hit ambitious targets, noting that a similar growth ambition set in 2021 resulted in a tripling of the business.
The mobile gaming market, once characterized by rapid double‑digit expansion, has now settled into a more modest single‑digit growth rate as the sector matures. What was once a blue ocean of untapped opportunity has turned a deep red, meaning that future expansion will increasingly involve capturing market share from rivals or absorbing them entirely. Acquiring studios is the easier side of the equation; integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult.
The industry is littered with cautionary tales of poorly managed mergers that culminated in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration.
Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile developers, 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”: the Casual District and the Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences.
The districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp respectively. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio, focusing on games that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases.
The rebranding goes beyond a simple name change. Redin says the ambition is to build "one of the leading gaming villages," a phrase chosen deliberately to foster a sense of community and belonging among employees. Retaining talent and ensuring smooth cultural integration are top priorities for a company that has been on an acquisition binge.
"Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin explained. "People are our greatest asset, but we must also create an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board because that is when the real story begins—scaling the business. The only way to keep them is to make sure they enjoy the environment we provide." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its portfolio.
Redin notes that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; a unified foundation can drive efficiencies. This standardisation effort began when she took the helm in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only became possible after the Plarium acquisition. The pitfalls of forced tech uniformity are well known.
Electronic Arts, for example, faced significant challenges when it mandated the use of its proprietary Frostbite engine across diverse studios, leading to delays on projects like Mass Effect. Redin is mindful of those lessons, recognising that the technical needs of Playsimple differ sharply from those of Playamp.
Accordingly, the two divisions are being equipped with separate, purpose‑built toolsets. "Playsimple’s tech stack will become the baseline for any future casual‑district acquisitions," she said.
"For Midcore, we have selected components of Plarium’s technology suite to roll out group‑wide, but we are doing so selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio. We conducted a thorough internal assessment to decide where collaboration makes sense and where it does not." Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page data infrastructure are already being deployed across MTG, with additional features and functionality being added to enhance them. The goal is to amplify the output of all studios, focusing resources where they deliver the highest return on investment. Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s growth strategy.
Generative AI tools are reshaping content creation across the mobile sector. InnoGames, for instance, has been generating all of the assets for its Sunrise Village title using AI for some time and is now looking to expand AI‑driven production across its entire catalogue. Redin observes that this AI integration is a common thread throughout the industry. "Most of the people I talk to are having similar conversations about how to embed new technology into our production pipelines," she said.
She added that generative AI is "significantly more powerful than any tool we have had before." The company’s approach is to layer AI onto existing workflows—enhancing A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and more—rather than replace human creativity outright. Successful AI solutions developed in individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices. "We give our studios the freedom to experiment within an overarching AI framework that outlines dos and don’ts," Redin explained.
"When a team creates something truly valuable, we can quickly roll it out across the group." When asked whether AI has become a prerequisite for competing in the fast‑moving mobile market, Redin cautioned against fatalism. "I often get asked if gaming AI will eventually do everything we do. I don’t think so. The core of our business remains human creativity, which AI cannot replicate yet.
However, if we ignore AI we risk falling behind competitors who are leveraging it to accelerate development and improve quality." She highlighted that AI can help address capacity shortfalls, providing assistance in areas such as code generation, art asset creation, and complex logic design. By augmenting, rather than replacing, human talent, MTG hopes to maintain its creative edge while boosting efficiency.
Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the portfolio.
"We acquired Snowprint a few years ago; if we could find five more studios like Snowprint worldwide, that would be fantastic. On the casual side, we’d like to add more scale as well," she said.
Currently, Playsimple is the sole studio in the casual district, yet it already contributes a fifth of the group’s revenue. Redin hinted at the possibility of a third district in the future, one that would leverage the core capabilities of MTG’s marketing and data platforms. Despite the market’s maturity, the top‑ten mobile games list remains remarkably stable year after year.
"Our thesis from day one has been to back evergreen IPs," Redin affirmed. While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of life left, MTG also recognises the necessity of a fresh pipeline. "We must continue to bring new games to market to keep the creative DNA of our studios alive," she said. Industry peers warn that the western mobile sector is "coasting"; only two of the 22 titles that have surpassed $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originated from the West.
Even giants like Supercell have struggled to launch successful new IPs despite heavy investment in incubation programs. Redin acknowledges these challenges, noting that Plarium is preparing to soft‑launch a new title early next year.
Looking ahead, Redin believes growth will be more modest than the hyper‑expansion of earlier years. "We’re looking at low to mid‑single‑digit growth rates across the board," she said.
"To exceed that baseline, we must keep investing in strong evergreen franchises while also delivering fresh experiences." In summary, MTG’s roadmap under Maria Redin’s leadership combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, strategic rebranding, technology standardisation, and AI‑enhanced production. By fostering a cohesive "gaming village" that values both talent and data‑driven tools, the company aims to double its size within the next few years while maintaining a balanced portfolio of proven evergreen titles and promising new releases.