In February of last year, Sweden’s mobile entertainment leader Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. Yet, according to MTG’s president and chief executive Maria Redin, that deal is only the opening move of a much larger agenda. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s vision, set out after the Plarium acquisition, is to double MTG’s overall size once more.
“We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she explained, adding that organic growth will continue but will need to be complemented by further acquisitions. The timeline she cited is aggressive – roughly three to five years – but she noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to meet bold targets, recalling a 2021 ambition that resulted in the firm tripling its scale. The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically over the past few years. What was once a rapidly expanding, double‑digit growth market has settled into single‑digit expansion as the sector matures.
The once‑blue‑ocean environment has turned “red,” meaning that future growth will largely depend on capturing market share from rivals or, more directly, absorbing them through acquisitions. While buying companies can be straightforward, integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult, with many high‑profile failures ending in studio closures. Redin, however, believes MTG has a clear roadmap for integration.
Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (creator of Forge of Empires), Snowprint (Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (Merge Gardens). These studios were originally organized into two “districts”: the Casual District and the Midcore District – the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences. The recent rebranding has renamed these divisions Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, will focus on free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp will house the majority of MTG’s revenue‑generating, in‑app‑purchase‑driven games.
Redin emphasizes that the restructuring goes far beyond a cosmetic name change. Her goal is to build “one of the leading gaming villages,” a term she chose deliberately to foster a sense of community and belonging among employees.
Retaining talent is critical for a company that has grown through rapid studio acquisition. “People are one of our biggest assets,” Redin said. “We need to create an environment where they thrive, and that means keeping founders and teams on board after a deal so the real story can begin – scaling the businesses together.” A key component of the integration strategy is the standardisation of technology and tools across the MTG ecosystem. Redin notes that the push for common tech stacks began when she took the helm in 2020, but only after the Plarium acquisition did the group reach a scale sufficient to roll out the vision fully.
She is careful to point out that the needs of Playsimple and Playamp differ dramatically, so the two districts will receive tailored tech solutions. For the casual side, Playsimple’s stack will become the template for future casual acquisitions. For midcore, MTG has selected portions of Plarium’s technology suite to deploy group‑wide, but only after a rigorous internal assessment of where shared tools make sense. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being leveraged across the organisation, with MTG adding new features to enhance functionality.
Redin says the aim is to concentrate effort where it yields the greatest return, supercharging the existing talent pool with a robust, shared tech suite. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another pillar of MTG’s forward‑looking strategy. InnoGames, for example, has been generating 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 production pipelines across the mobile sector.
“Generative AI is significantly more powerful than any tool we’ve had before,” she noted, adding that the industry is collectively grappling with how best to integrate AI without disrupting effective workflows. The focus, she explains, is on augmenting existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and analytics, while preserving the creative spark that human teams provide. MTG’s approach to AI is pragmatic: successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite for broader use, but studios retain flexibility to experiment within an overarching AI framework that defines best practices and boundaries.
Redin stresses that AI should enhance, not replace, human creativity. “If we don’t embrace AI, we’ll fall behind competitors,” she warned, while also cautioning that AI cannot fully replicate the imaginative capacity of talented developers. Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple.
Redin is eager to expand both sides of the business. She cites the recent acquisition of Snowprint and expresses interest in finding “five more Snowprints around the world.” On the casual front, she hopes to add scale, noting that Playsimple currently consists of a single studio but still contributes a meaningful share of earnings.
Looking ahead, Redin hints at the possibility of a third “district” that would leverage MTG’s core capabilities—perhaps focusing on marketing platforms or data analytics—but the exact shape of this future segment remains under discussion. When asked about the health of the mobile market, Redin points out that the top‑ten mobile games list changes little year over year, underscoring the durability of evergreen IPs. “Our thesis from day one has been to invest in evergreen titles,” she said, referencing the long‑term potential of games like Raid. Nevertheless, she acknowledges the necessity of a fresh pipeline: “We need new games to keep the creative DNA alive.” Plarium, for instance, has a new title slated for a soft launch early next year.
Industry observers such as Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen have warned that Western mobile developers are “coasting,” noting that only two of the 22 mobile games surpassing $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originated in the West. Yet Redin remains optimistic, citing a global base of three billion gamers and affirming that, despite competition from streaming services and social media, the gaming market still offers growth opportunities. She expects future growth to be modest—low to mid single‑digit percentages—but believes that sustained investment in both established evergreen franchises and innovative new titles will be essential to exceed that baseline. In summary, Maria Redin’s roadmap for MTG blends aggressive acquisition goals, strategic rebranding, technology standardisation, and AI‑enhanced production, all aimed at building a cohesive “gaming village” that can thrive in a mature, competitive mobile landscape while continuing to deliver both beloved legacy games and fresh experiences for players worldwide.