Maria Redin of MTG Discusses Rebranding, Acquiring Raid: Shadow Legends, and Plans to Double Company Size

In February of the previous year, 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, however, appears to be only the opening move in a much larger strategic game.

"Last year we defined a vision that, 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. "Organic growth will still be a key driver, but to hit that target we’ll have to pursue further acquisitions." Redin’s timetable is aggressive: the company aims to achieve the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year window. She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to meet bold ambitions, pointing to a 2021 goal that resulted in the group roughly tripling in size.

The mobile gaming sector, once characterised by double‑digit expansion, has now settled into a single‑digit growth rhythm, reflecting a market that is rapidly maturing. What used to be a blue‑ocean landscape has turned scarlet; growth now often means capturing a slice of a competitor’s share or absorbing that competitor outright.

Acquiring studios is the easy half of the equation. The real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly, a process that has tripped up many firms and sometimes led to studio closures. MTG believes it has a clear roadmap for that 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 originally split into two “districts”: the Casual District and the Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between purely casual and hardcore experiences. The districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp.

Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, groups together free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp houses the majority of MTG’s portfolio, which relies on in‑app purchases. The rebranding is more than cosmetic. Redin says the goal is to create “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term “village” is deliberately chosen to evoke a sense of community that employees want to belong to.

Retaining talent and ensuring smooth cultural integration are top priorities for a company that has been on a buying spree. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin explained. "People are our biggest asset, but we must also provide an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio we intend for the founders and their teams to stay on board because that’s when the real story begins and the business can scale.

The only way to make that happen is to build a workplace they enjoy." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its ecosystem—a plan that began when Redin took the helm in 2020 but only gained sufficient scale after the Plarium acquisition. The idea is not to force every studio to use the same bespoke solutions, but to create shared foundations where they make sense.

The industry has seen the pitfalls of forced standardisation. Electronic Arts’ push to adopt its Frostbite engine across all studios caused considerable friction, especially for teams working on titles like Mass Effect.

Redin is mindful of those lessons and stresses that the tech stacks for Playsimple and Playamp differ dramatically, so each district receives a customised approach. "Playsimple’s tech stack will become the baseline for any future casual‑district acquisitions," she said. "For the midcore side we’ve selected parts of Plarium’s suite to roll out group‑wide, but we’re doing it selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio. We conducted a thorough internal audit to decide where collaboration makes sense and where it does not." Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page data system are already being deployed across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality.

Redin believes these tools will raise the overall output of the studios. "We aim to invest where we get the biggest bang for our buck," she said. "Playamp’s developers are already excellent; we want to supercharge them with a tech suite that amplifies what they’re already doing." Generative AI is another pillar of MTG’s forward‑looking strategy. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI to generate all content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and is looking to expand AI‑driven creation across its portfolio.

Redin notes that AI integration is becoming a common discussion point throughout the mobile sector. "Most of the companies I talk to are exploring how to embed new technology into their production pipelines," she said. "Generative AI is far more powerful than any tool we’ve had before.

The challenge is finding the right balance—identifying which workflows to adapt, which to keep unchanged, and where AI can add the most value. Ultimately, it’s about using technology to make our games more relevant to players and to accelerate delivery without sacrificing quality." MTG’s AI strategy focuses on layering AI capabilities onto existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphics generation, quality assurance, and more.

Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the broader Plarium tech suite, creating a feedback loop that spreads best practices quickly. When asked whether AI has become a prerequisite for competing in the fast‑moving mobile market, Redin cautioned against fatalism. "I’m often asked if gaming AI will eventually replace human creators, and I don’t think that’s the case.

Creativity remains a uniquely human trait. However, ignoring AI would leave us lagging behind competitors.

Embracing it lets us maintain our creative edge while leveraging new efficiencies." She added that AI can help address capacity shortfalls in areas such as coding, art production, and complex logic, effectively “supercharging” the development process. Revenue-wise, roughly 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp division, with the casual side—currently represented by a single studio, Playsimple—contributing about 20 %.

Redin expressed enthusiasm for expanding both sides. "We bought Snowprint a few years ago; if we could discover five more studios like Snowprint worldwide, that would be fantastic. On the casual front we want to add more scale as well." She also hinted at the possibility of adding a third “district” to the gaming village, though details remain tentative.

The new segment would likely build on existing core capabilities, perhaps leveraging the marketing or data platforms that have proven effective. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes 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—such as Raid, which still has many years of revenue potential—with a continued pipeline of new games.

She acknowledged the difficulty of launching fresh hits, noting industry examples like Supercell’s Squad Busters, which was discontinued after a brief run. "Creating and scaling a successful new game is hard," Redin admitted, referencing Plarium’s upcoming title slated for a soft launch next year. "But abandoning new‑game development would erode the creative DNA of our studios. Maintaining that creative spark is essential for long‑term vitality." Looking at the broader landscape, Redin sees a sizable, still‑growing audience—about three billion gamers worldwide—but expects growth rates to settle in the low‑ to mid‑single‑digit range rather than the explosive double‑digit spikes of the past.

She concluded that sustained investment in both evergreen franchises and fresh experiences will be necessary to capture that modest yet meaningful growth.