In February of last year, Sweden’s mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million acquisition of Plarium, the developer behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. According to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive, that deal was only the opening move in a much larger playbook.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s ambition, set after the Plarium purchase, is to double its size once again. “We laid out the vision last year that, following the Plarium acquisition, we want to double again,” she explained. “We’ll continue to drive organic growth, but to do that we’ll need to make additional acquisitions.” The timeline is aggressive: Redin aims to achieve the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year window.
She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to scale quickly, recalling that the group set a similar target in 2021 and ended up tripling its size. A few years ago, the mobile sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but growth has since slowed to single‑digit percentages as the market matures. What was once a blue‑ocean landscape now looks more like a crowded red sea, where gaining market share often means either taking pieces from competitors or absorbing them outright.
Acquiring studios is the easier half of the equation; integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult. The games industry is littered with cautionary tales of failed integrations that led to studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap. Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned a suite of mobile studios, 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 (midcore referring to games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences). The districts have recently been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, focuses on free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp houses the portfolio of games that rely primarily on in‑app purchases.
Redin says the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; the goal is to create “one of the leading gaming villages.” The phrasing is intentional, designed to foster a sense of community that encourages staff to stay and thrive. She emphasized that people are MTG’s greatest asset and that retaining founders and development teams after an acquisition is essential for the next phase of growth. “We buy companies because we want the founders and their teams to stay on board post‑acquisition,” she said.
“The only way to make that happen is to build an environment they enjoy.” Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its portfolio. Redin noted that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; a common platform can accelerate development and reduce duplication. This standardisation effort began when she took the helm in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only arrived after the Plarium deal. She acknowledged the risks, citing Electronic Arts’ problematic push to force all its studios onto the Frostbite engine as an example of how forced uniformity can backfire.
To avoid a similar fate, MTG treats the two districts differently. Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve future casual acquisitions, while the Midcore district will adopt selected components of Plarium’s tech suite in a measured, case‑by‑case manner. “We performed a thorough internal assessment to decide where collaboration makes sense and where it does not,” Redin explained.
Key Plarium assets, such as the GoGame marketing platform and the product‑detail‑page data system, are now being used across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality. The intention is to boost studio productivity and ensure that investment yields the highest possible return.
“We want to supercharge Playamp with a tech suite that elevates everything already being done,” she said. Generative AI is another major focus. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its catalogue.
Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in production pipelines throughout the mobile sector. “Most of the industry is having similar discussions about how to adopt new technology,” she noted, adding that generative AI is “significantly more powerful than any tool we’ve had before.” MTG’s AI strategy centres on layering intelligent tools onto existing workflows—enhancing A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and more.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices. “We let studios experiment within our overarching AI framework, then share learnings and roll out the best ideas company‑wide,” Redin said. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin cautioned against such a deterministic view. “Our talent’s creativity isn’t something AI can replicate yet,” she asserted.
“But if we ignore AI, we’ll fall behind competitors. AI should augment, not replace, the imagination and vision of our teams.” She highlighted AI’s ability to address capacity shortfalls in coding, art, and complex logic, positioning it as a catalyst for faster, higher‑quality game releases. Currently, roughly 80 % of MTG’s revenue is generated by the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % coming from Playsimple.
Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She mentioned the recent Snowprint acquisition and expressed interest in finding additional studios with similar profiles. On the casual side, she hinted at the possibility of a third “district” that would leverage MTG’s core capabilities—marketing platforms and data analytics—to support new types of studios. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games remain relatively stable, underscoring the value of evergreen IPs.
“Our thesis from day one has been a belief in evergreen titles,” she said, citing Raid’s long‑term potential while acknowledging the necessity of a fresh pipeline. She referenced Supercell’s warning that the western mobile market is “coasting,” noting that only two of the 22 billion‑dollar titles since 2020 originated in the West, and that even Supercell’s own incubated projects have struggled.
Redin concluded that while hyper‑growth may be a thing of the past, the industry still offers solid, low‑to‑mid‑single‑digit expansion opportunities. To exceed that baseline, MTG must continue to nurture its successful evergreen franchises while simultaneously bringing new games to market. “We have three billion gamers worldwide,” she affirmed. “The market is compelling, competition is fierce, but there is still room for growth if we invest wisely in both proven IPs and fresh experiences."