In February of the previous year, Sweden’s mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. Yet, according to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive officer, that transaction is only the opening move in a broader expansion playbook.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company entered 2023 with a clear ambition: after swallowing Plarium, MTG intends to double its overall scale once more. “We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she explained. “And yes, we want to fuel and continue to drive organic growth, but in order to do that, we will need to do more acquisitions.” The timeline for this doubling is aggressive – Redin targets a three‑to‑five‑year window.
She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the capacity to deliver on bold growth goals, pointing to the 2021 objective that saw the group’s revenues triple in a short span. The mobile gaming landscape, once characterized by double‑digit expansion, has now settled into single‑digit growth as the sector matures. What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped users has turned into a crowded, competitive arena where gaining market share often means either out‑performing rivals or acquiring them outright.
While buying companies is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating those studios without triggering the kind of cultural clashes and operational mishaps that have doomed many mergers in the industry. MTG entered the Plarium deal already owning a portfolio of established 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 assets were previously organized into two “districts” – the Casual District and the Midcore District – a naming convention that reflected the spectrum from easy‑to‑play, ad‑supported games to titles that sit between casual and hardcore, typically monetized through in‑app purchases (IAPs).
Following the Plarium acquisition, MTG rebranded those divisions as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, now houses the free‑to‑play, ad‑driven portfolio, while Playamp aggregates the IAP‑centric titles that represent the bulk of MTG’s revenue. But the rebranding is more than cosmetic; Redin says the goal is to forge “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term is deliberately inviting, designed to foster a sense of belonging among developers, and to improve employee retention – a critical factor when a company is rapidly adding new studios. “Gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions,” Redin remarked.
“People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to create an environment where they can thrive. We buy companies because we want the founders and their teams to stay on board after the deal – that’s when the real story begins, and you can scale the businesses.
The only way to make sure they stay is to build a workplace they enjoy.” A parallel effort underway at MTG is the standardisation of technology and tools across its growing ecosystem. Since Redin took the helm in 2020, she has championed a unified tech stack, but the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after Plarium joined the group. The company is now applying a selective, division‑specific approach: Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve future casual‑district acquisitions, while Playamp will adopt elements of Plarium’s suite where they add clear value.
Redin acknowledges the pitfalls of blanket standardisation, citing Electronic Arts’ troubled push to force all studios onto the proprietary Frostbite engine as a cautionary tale. At MTG, the decision‑making process involves a rigorous internal assessment to determine where shared tools make sense and where bespoke solutions are preferable.
Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system have already been deployed across the group, with MTG adding new features to enhance functionality. The intent is to maximise impact – “to put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck,” Redin said – by giving Playamp studios a robust, shared technology suite that amplifies what they already do well. Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s modernization drive.
InnoGames, for instance, has been generating all content for its mobile title Sunrise Village using AI for some time and is exploring broader AI‑driven content creation. Redin observes that AI is being woven into many stages of production, from A/B testing and graphics generation to quality assurance. Successful AI tools piloted in individual studios are being rolled out into the Plarium tech suite, creating a feedback loop that accelerates innovation across the entire company. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin cautioned against such deterministic thinking.
“I often get the question, is gaming AI going to be able to do everything you do? I don’t think so. Our talent’s creativity isn’t something AI can replicate yet. However, if we ignore AI we’ll fall behind competitors.
AI can super‑charge our work, filling capacity gaps in analysis, coding, art, and advanced logic, while preserving the human spark that makes games compelling.” Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s income now stems from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides: “We bought Snowprint a couple of years back, and if we could find five more Snowprints around the world, that would be fantastic. On the casual side we’d like more scale.” Although Playsimple currently consists of a single studio, Redin hinted at the possibility of a third district in the future, one that would leverage the group’s core capabilities in marketing platforms and data analytics.
Despite the market’s maturity, Redin remains convinced that growth is still possible. She points out that the top‑ten mobile games list changes little year over year, underscoring the importance of evergreen IPs. Yet she also stresses the need for a fresh pipeline: “Raid has many years ahead of it, but we also need new games to keep the creative DNA alive.” The broader industry context is sobering.
Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen warned that western mobile development is “coasting,” with only two of the 22 titles that have surpassed $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, as seen with the recent shutdown of Squad Busters.
Redin acknowledges these challenges but remains optimistic: “It’s hard to make a successful game and scale it, but not investing in new titles would erode the creative spirit of our studios. New games are essential for retaining passion and drive.” She concludes that while hyper‑growth may be a thing of the past, modest single‑digit expansion is realistic, provided MTG continues to nurture its evergreen franchises and brings fresh experiences to market. In sum, MTG’s roadmap blends aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, unified technology, and AI‑enhanced production, all underpinned by a cultural emphasis on community and creativity.
If the company can execute this multifaceted strategy, it may well achieve the ambitious doubling target Redin has set for the next few years.