In February of the previous year, the Swedish mobile entertainment conglomerate Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the developer behind the blockbuster hero‑collecting title Raid: Shadow Legends. That transaction, while already sizable, appears only to be the opening move in a much larger strategic play. "Last year we set a clear vision: after bringing Plarium into the fold, we intend to double our scale once more," MTG’s president and chief executive officer Maria Redin told GamesIndustry.biz.
"We will continue to drive organic expansion, but to achieve that we must pursue additional acquisitions." Redin’s timetable for this ambition is bold: the company aims to reach the doubling target within roughly three to five years. She noted that MTG has previously hit a similar milestone in 2021, when the group’s revenue more than tripled, demonstrating that such rapid scaling is not merely aspirational.
The mobile gaming sector, which a few years ago was enjoying double‑digit growth, has now settled into single‑digit expansion as the market matures. What was once a blue‑ocean landscape has become a highly competitive red sea, where growth often means taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. Acquiring studios is the easier half of the equation; the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly.
The industry is littered with cautionary tales of mergers that resulted in cultural clashes, duplicated effort, and ultimately studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a roadmap to avoid those pitfalls.
Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile developers, including InnoGames (known for Forge of Empires), Snowprint (creator of Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (developer of F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (behind Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (maker of Merge Gardens). These studios were grouped into two “districts”: a Casual District and a Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between purely casual and hardcore experiences. The recent rebranding renamed these districts as Playsimple and Playamp.
Playsimple, borrowing its name from the Indian studio behind WordTrip, now houses the free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio, focused on games that generate revenue through in‑app purchases. Redin emphasized that the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change.
Her goal is to create "one of the leading gaming villages," a phrase chosen deliberately to evoke a sense of community and belonging. Retaining talent and fostering a cohesive culture across a rapidly expanding roster of studios is a top priority. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," she explained. "People are our greatest asset, but they need an environment where they can thrive.
When we acquire a company, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board, because that’s when the real story begins and we can scale the business further. The only way to keep them is to build a workplace they enjoy." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its network—a plan that Redin began pushing when she took the helm in 2020. The Plarium acquisition gave the group the scale needed to roll out this vision fully. Rather than forcing every studio to adopt a single, monolithic engine (a strategy that famously backfired for Electronic Arts with its Frostbite engine), MTG tailors its tech stacks to the needs of each district.
For Playsimple, the focus is on a lightweight, ad‑centric tech foundation that will serve future casual acquisitions. For Playamp, MTG has selected portions of Plarium’s proprietary suite and is deploying them selectively, ensuring that any shared tools genuinely improve outcomes for each studio. Key components of Plarium’s infrastructure—such as the GoGame marketing platform and a product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system—are now being used across the entire MTG ecosystem, with additional features being added to enhance functionality.
Redin said the aim is to allocate resources where they generate the greatest return, leveraging the strong development talent already present in the group. Artificial intelligence is another area where MTG is making significant strides. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village for some time and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in production pipelines throughout the mobile sector.
"Most of the industry is having the same conversations about how to adopt new technology," she noted. "Generative AI is far more powerful than any tool we’ve had before.
The challenge is finding the right balance—where do we change the workflow, and where do we keep it the same? Ultimately, AI should help us make games more relevant to players and accelerate our ability to launch high‑quality titles." MTG’s approach is to layer AI on top of existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphic generation, quality assurance, and analytics.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid dissemination of best practices across the group. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin was cautious.
"I don’t think AI can do everything we do," she said. "Our talent’s creativity is still something AI can’t replicate. However, if we ignore AI we risk falling behind competitors.
Embracing it lets us augment our teams, fill capacity gaps, and push development speed without sacrificing innovation." Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin expressed a desire to broaden both sides of the business. She cited Snowprint as an example of a studio they would love to replicate globally, and hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the gaming village, potentially centred around marketing platforms or data capabilities. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list remains relatively stable year after year, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs.
While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of life left, the company also recognises the importance of a fresh pipeline. Plarium is preparing a new title for soft launch early next year, and MTG continues to scout for innovative concepts. The broader industry context is sobering.
Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen has warned that Western mobile developers are "coasting," with only two of the 22 titles surpassing $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originating from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, as illustrated by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters.
Redin acknowledges these challenges, noting that creating and scaling a hit game is difficult for any studio. Yet she argues that investing in new games is essential to preserve the creative DNA of each studio and keep the workforce motivated. Looking ahead, Redin sees a market that, while no longer capable of the explosive growth of the early 2010s, still offers meaningful opportunities.
With roughly three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains compelling despite competition from streaming services, social media, and other forms of digital entertainment. She expects growth to hover in the low‑ to mid‑single‑digit range, and believes that sustained investment in both evergreen franchises and fresh titles is the formula for exceeding that baseline.
In summary, MTG’s strategy under Maria Redin’s leadership combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, targeted rebranding, technology standardisation, and AI augmentation. By fostering a cohesive "gaming village" that values both the creative spark of its developers and the efficiency of shared tools, the company aims to double its size within the next few years while continuing to deliver popular, revenue‑generating mobile experiences.