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

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. According to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive, that deal was merely the opening move of a much larger expansion plan. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s ambition, set after the Plarium acquisition, is to double its size again within roughly three to five years. "We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size," she said.

"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 is aggressive, yet Redin points out that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to hit lofty targets. In 2021 the group announced a similar goal and, according to her, the company actually tripled its scale during that period.

The mobile gaming landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years. What was once a rapidly expanding, double‑digit growth market has settled into single‑digit growth as the sector matures.

The “blue ocean” of untapped users has turned “red,” meaning that future expansion will largely depend on capturing market share from rivals or absorbing them entirely. Acquiring studios is the easy half of the equation; integrating them successfully is where many firms stumble. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of poorly managed mergers that end in studio closures.

MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration. 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 pure casual and hardcore experiences.

Following the acquisition, the districts were rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp respectively. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the bulk of MTG’s portfolio, which relies on in‑app purchases. Redin emphasizes that the rebranding is only the surface of a deeper cultural shift.

She envisions MTG evolving into "one of the leading gaming villages," a term chosen deliberately to foster a sense of community and belonging among employees. Retaining talent and ensuring smooth post‑acquisition transitions are top priorities, especially given the rapid pace of recent purchases.

"I always say gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions. People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to create an environment for them to thrive," Redin explained. "We buy our companies, which also means that we want the founders and the teams to stay on board post‑acquisition, because that's when the true exciting story should start and you continue to scale the businesses. The only way you can make sure they stay is if you create an environment they enjoy." A key component of that environment is technology standardisation.

Since Redin took the helm in 2020, MTG has been working to harmonise tools and platforms across its studios, but the scale required to roll out a unified tech stack only became feasible after Plarium joined the group. "Not everything needs to be built uniquely for every single company," she noted, adding that the standardisation effort has been tailored to the distinct needs of the Playsimple and Playamp divisions.

For the casual side, Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve as the template for any future studios added to that district. In the midcore arena, MTG has selected portions of Plarium’s technology suite to deploy group‑wide, but only after a careful internal audit to determine where shared tools make sense.

This selective approach avoids the pitfalls seen elsewhere—for example, Electronic Arts’ forced adoption of the Frostbite engine, which caused major disruptions for teams working on titles like Mass Effect. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and its product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being leveraged across MTG, with additional features being built in to enhance functionality. Redin says the goal is to maximise the return on investment in these platforms, allowing studios to benefit from a common set of capabilities while still preserving the unique strengths each developer brings. Artificial intelligence is another area where MTG is making significant strides.

InnoGames, one of the group’s flagship studios, has been using generative AI to produce content for its mobile title Sunrise Village for some time, and the company plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in many aspects of mobile game production, from A/B testing and graphics generation to quality assurance. "Generative AI is significantly more powerful than any other tool we’ve had before," she said.

"We’re all trying to find the right balance—where to change workflows, where to keep them, and how to use AI to make our games more relevant for players while accelerating time‑to‑market." MTG’s approach is to allow individual studios the freedom to experiment within an overarching AI framework, then disseminate successful solutions throughout the organisation. "When one company develops something really good, we make sure we can quickly roll that out on a broader scale," Redin explained. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin was cautious.

"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 yet within AI," she said.

"But if we don’t embrace AI, we’ll fall behind competitors. AI can super‑charge our work, filling capacity gaps in analysis, coding, art and advanced logic, while the human side continues to drive vision and innovation." Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s earnings now come from the Playamp division, with the casual side (Playsimple) contributing roughly 20 %. Redin is eager to broaden both sides, noting that the group would love to replicate the success of Snowprint in multiple locations worldwide.

She also hinted at the possibility of adding a third “district” to the gaming village, likely centred around the core capabilities of MTG’s marketing and data platforms. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list remains remarkably stable, reinforcing the company’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs. While titles like Raid have many years of life left, MTG still recognises the importance of a fresh pipeline.

Plarium, for instance, is preparing a new game for a soft launch early next year. The broader industry context is sobering. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen warned that western mobile gaming is “coasting,” with only two of the 22 billion‑dollar titles since 2020 originating from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubator projects have struggled, as illustrated by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters.

Redin acknowledges the difficulty of creating and scaling hit games but insists that continual investment in new titles is essential to preserve studio DNA, creativity, and passion. She sees the market as still compelling—three billion gamers worldwide guarantee a sizable audience—but expects growth to settle into low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit rates rather than the hyper‑growth of earlier years. In her view, sustaining and modestly expanding that market share will require a dual strategy: nurturing strong evergreen franchises while also bringing fresh experiences to players. "If you want to grow above and beyond the baseline, you need to continue to invest in your strong evergreen IPs, but then you also need to be able to bring new games to the market," Redin concluded.