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 is only the opening move in a much larger expansion plan. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a bold vision last year: after bringing Plarium into the fold, MTG intends to double its overall size once more. "We want to keep driving organic growth, but to do that we’ll need to make additional acquisitions," she said.
The target timeline is aggressive – roughly three to five years – yet Redin pointed out that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to meet lofty goals, noting that the firm tripled its scale after a similar ambition was announced in 2021. The mobile gaming sector, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has settled into a single‑digit expansion rate as the market matures.
What used to be a blue‑ocean of untapped users has turned into a highly competitive red‑sea, where growth now often means taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. While buying companies is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating those acquisitions without disrupting existing operations – a process that has derailed many studios in the past. MTG entered the Plarium deal already owning a portfolio 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 previously split into two “districts”: the Casual District and the Midcore District – the latter covering games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences.
The recent rebranding renamed these groups Playsimple and Playamp respectively. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, now houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the bulk of MTG’s portfolio, focused on games that generate revenue through in‑app purchases. Beyond a cosmetic name change, Redin emphasized that the goal is to create "one of the leading gaming villages." The phrase is meant to evoke a sense of community that encourages talent to stay and thrive. "People are one of our biggest assets," she explained, "but we must also build an environment where they can flourish.
When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to remain post‑acquisition, because that’s when the real story begins – scaling the business together. The only way to keep them is to make sure they enjoy the workplace." A key part of the integration effort has been the standardisation of technology and tools across MTG’s growing ecosystem. Redin has pursued this strategy since becoming CEO in 2020, but she says the scale achieved after the Plarium acquisition finally allowed the vision to be fully realised.
She acknowledges the risks of forced standardisation, citing Electronic Arts’ problematic rollout of the Frostbite engine across its studios as a cautionary tale. To avoid similar pitfalls, MTG treats the tech needs of Playsimple and Playamp as distinct, tailoring solutions for each.
For the Casual District, Playsimple’s tech stack will serve as the foundation for any future studios that join that side of the business. In the Midcore arena, MTG has selectively adopted components of Plarium’s technology suite, rolling them out only where they add clear value.
Redin explained that a thorough internal review identified where sharing tools makes sense and where it does not. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and its product‑detail‑page data system have already been deployed across the group, with MTG adding new features to enhance functionality and boost studio output. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another area where MTG is investing heavily. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI to generate all content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its catalogue.
Redin noted that AI is being woven into many production pipelines – from A/B testing and graphics creation to quality assurance – and that successful AI tools from individual studios are being incorporated into the shared Plarium tech suite. "We allow studios to experiment within our overarching AI framework, then we spread the learnings quickly across the company," she said.
When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin was cautious. "I don’t think AI can do everything we do. Our talent’s imagination is still essential," she said, adding that refusing to adopt AI would leave MTG lagging behind competitors. Instead, she views AI as a catalyst that can accelerate development, fill capacity gaps, and enable faster, higher‑quality releases.
Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to expand both sides.
She mentioned that MTG bought Snowprint a few years ago and would love to replicate that success with additional studios of similar calibre. While Playsimple currently consists of a single studio, Redin hinted at the possibility of adding a third “district” to the gaming village, perhaps centred around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games remain remarkably stable year after year, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs.
The company continues to back proven titles like Raid, which she expects to have many more years of profitability. At the same time, she acknowledges the necessity of a fresh pipeline: "If we stop investing in new games, we lose a part of our studios’ DNA – the creativity and drive that fuel innovation." The broader industry context is sobering.
Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen warned that Western mobile gaming is "coasting," noting that only two of the 22 mobile games surpassing $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originated in the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, with projects like Squad Busters being shuttered after a brief launch.
Redin concedes that creating and scaling a hit game is difficult, but she points to Plarium’s upcoming title slated for a soft launch early next year as evidence that MTG remains committed to new development. Looking ahead, Redin sees a market that, while no longer capable of the hyper‑growth of earlier years, still offers meaningful expansion opportunities. With roughly three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains compelling despite competition from streaming services, social media, and other forms of digital entertainment.
She predicts growth rates ranging from low to mid single digits, and asserts that surpassing those baselines will require continued investment in strong evergreen franchises alongside a steady flow of new releases. In summary, MTG’s strategy under Maria Redin’s leadership combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, AI augmentation, and a balanced portfolio of established and emerging titles. The company aims to double its size within the next few years, build a cohesive "gaming village" that retains talent, and leverage both proven IPs and fresh concepts to sustain growth in an increasingly competitive mobile landscape.