In February of the previous year, Sweden’s mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) closed a $620 million deal to acquire Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That transaction, however, is only the opening move in what the company describes as an aggressive expansion campaign.
"Last year we set a clear vision: after bringing Plarium into the fold we intend to double our size again," MTG’s president and chief executive Maria Redin told GamesIndustry.biz. "Organic growth will continue to be a priority, but achieving it will require further acquisitions." Redin’s timetable for that doubling is bold—she targets a three‑to‑five‑year horizon. The ambition is not new; MTG pursued a similar goal in 2021 and, according to Redin, succeeded in tripling its scale during that period.
The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. Rapid double‑digit expansion has slowed to single‑digit growth as the market matures. What once resembled a blue ocean now looks more like a crowded, competitive arena where gaining market share often means absorbing rivals.
Acquiring studios is the easy part; integrating them is where many companies stumble. The industry is littered with examples of poorly managed mergers that end in studio closures. MTG believes it has a roadmap to avoid those pitfalls. Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned a suite of mobile developers, including InnoGames (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”: a Casual District and a Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences. The districts have since been renamed 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 roughly 80 % of MTG’s total income.
Redin says the rebranding is more than cosmetic. She envisions MTG evolving into “one of the leading gaming villages,” a phrase chosen to foster a sense of community and belonging among employees.
Retaining talent is critical for a firm that has grown through rapid acquisition. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin explains.
"Our people are our greatest asset, but they need 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 and the business can scale further.
The only way to ensure they stay is to create a workplace they enjoy." A key element of the integration effort is the standardisation of technology and tools across the group. Redin has pursued this goal since becoming CEO in 2020, but she notes that Plarium’s size finally gave MTG the scale needed to roll the vision out fully. She is careful to distinguish between the needs of the two districts: Playsimple’s tech stack will serve future casual acquisitions, while Playamp will adopt selected components of Plarium’s technology suite in a measured, selective rollout. "We performed a thorough internal assessment to decide where sharing tools makes sense and where it does not," she says.
Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑data platform (PDP) are already being used across MTG, and the company is adding new features to enhance them. Redin stresses that the aim is to maximise impact: "We want to invest where we get the biggest bang for our buck. We have amazing game makers across the group, and with Playamp we intend to super‑charge them with a robust tech suite that elevates everything they already do." Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another pillar of MTG’s strategy.
InnoGames, for example, has been generating content for its mobile title Sunrise Village with AI for some time and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin observes that AI is being woven into many stages of production—from A/B testing and graphics creation to quality assurance. Successful AI tools from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium‑derived tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices.
When asked whether AI will eventually replace human designers, Redin is cautious. "I don’t think AI can replicate the spark of human creativity yet," she says. "But if we ignore AI, we risk falling behind competitors who are leveraging it to accelerate development and improve player relevance. AI should augment, not replace, our talent.
It can fill capacity gaps in coding, art, and complex logic, letting us deliver games faster and, ideally, better." Revenue-wise, Playamp accounts for about 80 % of MTG’s earnings, while Playsimple contributes the remaining 20 % despite comprising only a single studio at present. Redin is eager to broaden both districts. She cites Snowprint as a model, noting that acquiring five more studios with a similar profile would be “fantastic.” She also hints at the possibility of a third district that would leverage the group’s core capabilities—marketing platforms or data assets—to create a new niche within the gaming village. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list changes little each year, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing focus on evergreen intellectual property.
"Raid Shadow Legends still has many years of life ahead," she says, while acknowledging that a pipeline of new titles is essential to keep the creative engine humming. Plarium, for instance, is preparing to soft‑launch a new game early next year.
Industry peers warn that the western mobile sector is “coasting,” with only two of the 22 titles that have surpassed $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West. Supercell’s own incubator experiments, such as the recently shuttered Squad Busters, illustrate the difficulty of launching fresh hits. Redin concurs that building and scaling a new game is hard, but she argues that neglecting new development would erode studio DNA and stifle innovation. Looking ahead, Redin sees a market of three billion gamers that remains compelling, even if hyper‑growth is unlikely to return.
She expects growth rates to hover in the low‑ to mid‑single‑digit range, and she believes that sustaining and modestly expanding that growth will require a balanced mix of strong evergreen franchises and a steady flow of new releases. By combining strategic acquisitions, unified technology, and AI‑enhanced production, MTG aims to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded mobile arena.