In February of last year, Sweden’s 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 deal, however, is only the opening move in what MTG’s president and chief executive, Maria Redin, describes as a much larger growth agenda. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s vision, set shortly after the Plarium transaction, is to double MTG’s overall size once again.
"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 she cites is bold: the target is to achieve this doubling within roughly three to five years. Redin notes that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to scale quickly, pointing to a 2021 ambition that saw the group roughly triple its revenue base.
The mobile gaming landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. A few years ago the sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but today growth has settled into single‑digit territory as the market matures. What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped users has turned into a crowded, highly competitive arena where any further expansion often means taking market share from rivals or, more commonly, acquiring them outright.
Acquisitions are the easy part; integration is where many companies stumble. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of studios that were bought, then folded because the parent failed to meld cultures, technology stacks, and business processes. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration.
Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (known for 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 purely casual and hardcore experiences. Following the acquisition, the districts were rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp respectively. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the bulk of MTG’s portfolio—games that rely primarily on in‑app purchases.
Redin says the rebranding is more than cosmetic. The goal, she says, is to create "one of the leading gaming villages"—a community‑oriented structure that encourages talent to stay and thrive.
"People are one of our biggest assets," she asserts, "but you also need to make sure you create an environment for them to thrive in." The company’s acquisition strategy therefore includes a promise to keep founders and development teams on board after a purchase, allowing the newly added studios to continue their growth trajectory under the MTG umbrella. A key pillar of the integration plan is the standardisation of technology and tools across the group.
Redin notes that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; a shared foundation can accelerate development and reduce costs. The push for common platforms began when she took the helm in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only arrived with Plarium’s addition. While MTG is careful to avoid the pitfalls seen at other large publishers—such as EA’s problematic rollout of the Frostbite engine—the company tailors its tech suites to the needs of each district.
Playsimple’s stack will serve as the baseline for future casual acquisitions, whereas Playamp will adopt selected components of Plarium’s technology, deployed selectively after a thorough internal audit. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑data platform (PDP) are already being leveraged across MTG, and Redin says the group is actively extending their functionality. The aim is to boost studio productivity and ensure that any investment yields the highest possible return. "We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck," she says, noting that the Playamp division will be "supercharged" by a unified tech suite that elevates existing capabilities.
Artificial intelligence is another area where MTG is investing heavily. Generative AI tools are now being used to create in‑game assets, run A/B tests, assist quality assurance, and even generate marketing copy. InnoGames, for example, has been employing AI to produce content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to broaden that usage.
Redin observes that AI is becoming a standard part of the production pipeline across the industry, and she believes it offers a significant productivity boost. "Generative AI is significantly more powerful than any other tool that we got access to before," she says, adding that the challenge lies in finding the right balance between automation and human creativity. The company’s AI strategy is deliberately modular.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, and the group encourages studios to experiment within a shared framework of best practices. This approach enables rapid diffusion of innovations: when one studio develops a breakthrough, MTG can roll it out to the rest of the network quickly.
When asked whether AI will eventually replace human developers, Redin is cautious. She believes that while AI can accelerate many processes, it cannot replicate the core creative spark that human teams bring.
"Our talent has an amazing creativity that doesn’t sit yet within AI," she says. At the same time, she warns that companies that ignore AI risk falling behind competitors who are leveraging it to ship games faster and at higher quality. Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s earnings now come from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple.
Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She cites the recent acquisition of Snowprint and expresses interest in finding additional studios with similar capabilities. On the casual side, she notes that Playsimple is currently a single studio but sees potential for a third “district” that could focus on either marketing or data‑driven services, depending on market demand.
Despite the focus on acquisitions and technology, MTG remains committed to developing new IP. The mobile top‑ten chart has been remarkably stable, and evergreen titles like Raid continue to deliver revenue for years. Nonetheless, Redin stresses the importance of a fresh pipeline: "We believe in evergreen IPs, but we also need new games to keep the creative engine humming." Plarium, for instance, is preparing to soft‑launch a new title early next year.
The broader industry context is sobering. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen has warned that western mobile developers are "coasting," with only two of the 22 mobile games that have surpassed $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West.
Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, as illustrated by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters. Redin acknowledges these challenges but remains optimistic. She points to the three‑billion‑player global market as evidence that there is still room for growth, even if the hyper‑growth phase has passed.
"We see low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit growth across the board," she says. "If you want to grow above that, you need to keep investing in strong evergreen IPs and also bring new games to market." In summary, MTG’s roadmap combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, unified technology platforms, and a measured embrace of AI, all aimed at doubling the company’s size within the next few years while preserving the creative talent that fuels its success.