In February of the previous year, Swedish mobile entertainment leader Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the developer behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That transaction, while already sizable, is only the opening move in what MTG’s president and chief executive, Maria Redin, describes as an aggressive expansion agenda. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s vision, set shortly after the Plarium deal, is to double its overall size once more. "We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size," she explained, adding that organic growth will continue to be a priority but will need to be supplemented by further acquisitions.
The target timeline is ambitious: Redin aims to achieve the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year window. She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to meet bold goals, recalling that a similar ambition announced in 2021 resulted in the group tripling its scale.
The mobile gaming sector, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has settled into a single‑digit expansion rate as the market matures. What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped users now resembles a crowded, competitive arena where growth often means taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. While buying companies is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating those acquisitions without disrupting existing operations. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of failed integrations that led to studio closures, but Redin believes MTG has a clear roadmap to avoid those pitfalls.
Before adding Plarium, MTG already owned a portfolio of notable mobile studios: 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 organized into two “districts”: the Casual District and the Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences. Following the recent restructuring, the districts have been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp.
Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp focuses on games that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases, which now represent the bulk of MTG’s earnings. Redin emphasized that the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it is intended to forge a "gaming village" where talent feels a sense of belonging. "It is supposed to create something that people want to be part of," she said, underscoring the importance of employee retention and cultural integration after rapid acquisition activity. She described gaming as a marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making, noting that people are MTG’s greatest asset, but they need an environment that nurtures their potential.
Consequently, the company strives to keep founders and development teams on board after a purchase, believing that the most exciting growth phase begins once the acquired studio is fully integrated. A key component of the integration plan is the standardisation of technology and tools across the group.
Redin has pursued this strategy since becoming CEO in 2020, but she believes the scale achieved with the Plarium acquisition finally allows the vision to be executed comprehensively. She cautioned that technology standardisation must be applied judiciously; the tools required by the Playsimple (casual) division differ markedly from those needed by Playamp (midcore). To that end, Playsimple’s tech stack will serve as a foundation for future casual studios, while Playamp will selectively adopt components of Plarium’s suite, after a thorough internal assessment of where sharing makes sense.
Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being rolled out across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance their utility. Redin explained that the goal is to allocate resources where they yield the greatest return, leveraging the strengths of the group’s diverse developers while providing a unified, powerful tech backbone. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another area where MTG is investing heavily. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its catalogue.
Redin described AI as a "significantly more powerful" tool than anything previously available, and she stressed that the company is exploring how to embed AI into workflows such as A/B testing, graphics production, quality assurance, and analytics. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid dissemination of proven innovations throughout the organisation. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin was cautious.
She believes AI cannot replicate the imaginative spark that human talent brings, but she also warned that ignoring AI would leave MTG lagging behind competitors. "If we don’t embrace AI, we are going to be slower than what our competitors are," she said, adding that AI can help alleviate capacity shortfalls in coding, art, and complex logic, thereby "supercharging" the development process. Revenue-wise, roughly 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by the single casual studio Playsimple. Redin expressed a desire to expand both sides, noting that the company recently acquired Snowprint and would welcome additional studios of similar calibre.
She hinted at the possibility of adding a third "district" to the gaming village, likely centred around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics, though concrete plans remain under discussion. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin remains confident in the sector’s long‑term potential. She highlighted that the top‑ten mobile games list changes little each year, reinforcing MTG’s strategy of investing in evergreen IPs like Raid, which she believes has many years of revenue left.
At the same time, she acknowledges the necessity of a fresh pipeline: Plarium is preparing to soft‑launch a new title early next year, and MTG intends to continue nurturing new concepts to preserve creative DNA across its studios. Industry observers such as Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen have warned that western mobile gaming is “coasting,” with only a handful of new billion‑dollar titles emerging recently. Redin agrees that creating hit games is difficult, but she maintains that a balanced approach—leveraging strong existing franchises while steadily introducing new experiences—is essential for sustained growth.
In her view, the mobile market still offers a compelling opportunity, even if the era of hyper‑growth has passed. Continued investment in evergreen IPs, combined with a disciplined rollout of fresh titles and the strategic use of AI, will be the pillars supporting MTG’s ambition to double its size in the coming years.