In February of last year, the Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the developer behind the blockbuster hero‑collecting title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, while already sizable, appears to be only the opening move in a broader strategic play. "We set out the vision last year that, after bringing Plarium into the fold, we want to double the company again," Maria Redin, MTG's president and chief executive, told GamesIndustry.biz.
"We will continue to drive organic growth, but to do that we need to pursue additional acquisitions." Redin’s timeline for that doubling is bold: she aims to achieve it within roughly three to five years. The Swedish group is no stranger to rapid expansion—Redin noted that MTG pursued a similar goal in 2021 and, in her words, "tripled" its size.
The mobile gaming market, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has now settled into a single‑digit expansion rate, reflecting a maturing ecosystem. What was once a blue ocean of untapped users has turned a deep red, meaning that future growth will largely come from taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. Acquiring studios is the easy part; the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly.
The industry is littered with cautionary tales of botched mergers that resulted in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap. Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios such as 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 grouped into two “districts”: the Casual District and the Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences. The districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple, named after the India‑based studio behind WordTrip, focuses on free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp houses the majority of MTG’s portfolio, which relies on in‑app purchases. The rebranding is more than cosmetic.
Redin says the objective is to create "one of the leading gaming villages." The deliberately friendly name is meant to foster a sense of belonging among employees, a crucial factor when a company is rapidly absorbing new teams. "Gaming is the best marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," she explained. "People are our biggest asset, but we must also provide an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board, because that is when the real story begins and the business can scale.
The only way to retain them is to build a workplace they enjoy." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its divisions—a goal Redin set when she became CEO in 2020. The Plarium acquisition gave the group the scale needed to roll out that vision fully.
While tech standardisation can be risky—EA’s push to force all studios onto the Frostbite engine famously caused turmoil—Redin stresses that the needs of Playsimple and Playamp are distinct, so each division receives a tailored stack. "Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve any future casual‑district studios we bring in," she said.
"For Midcore, we have selected parts of Plarium’s suite to deploy group‑wide, but we are doing it selectively to ensure the end result benefits every company. We performed a thorough internal assessment to decide where collaboration on tools makes sense and where it does not." Two of Plarium’s platforms—the GoGame marketing engine and the PDP data platform—are already being used across MTG, and Redin notes that the group is adding new features to enhance them. The aim is to maximise impact: "We want to focus our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck. We have amazing game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge them with a tech suite that elevates everything they already do." Generative AI is another pillar of MTG’s modernization.
InnoGames, for example, has been generating all content for its mobile title Sunrise Village with AI for some time and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin observes that this mirrors a broader industry trend: AI tools are being woven into production pipelines to speed up content creation, improve quality, and reduce costs. "Most of the people I talk to in the industry are having the same conversations about how to embrace new technology," Redin said. She added that generative AI is "significantly more powerful than any other tool we have had before." The challenge, she notes, is finding the right balance: deciding which workflows to overhaul, which to keep intact, and where AI can add the most value without compromising creative vision.
MTG’s approach is to layer AI onto existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphics generation, quality assurance, and analytics. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite and then rolled out to the wider group. "We allow our studios to experiment within the boundaries of our overarching AI framework," Redin explained. "When one team develops a breakthrough, we can quickly share that across the company." When asked whether AI has become a prerequisite for competing in the fast‑moving mobile market, Redin cautioned against fatalism.
"I often get the question, will gaming AI eventually do everything you do? I don’t think so. Creativity and human imagination remain irreplaceable," she said. "But if we ignore AI, we will fall behind competitors.
Embracing AI lets us maintain our creative edge while accelerating production and improving quality." According to Redin, roughly 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, while the casual side (Playsimple) contributes about 20 %. She is eager to expand both sides. "We bought Snowprint a few years ago; if we could find five more Snowprints worldwide, that would be fantastic. On the casual side we want to add scale as well," she noted.
Currently Playsimple is a single studio, yet it already accounts for a fifth of the group’s earnings. Redin hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the gaming village, though details remain fluid. The new district would likely leverage core capabilities such as the group’s marketing platforms or data infrastructure, creating another avenue for growth. From a product perspective, the outlook remains familiar.
The top‑ten mobile games list changes little year after year, and MTG’s strategy has always centred on evergreen IPs. "Our thesis from day one has been to invest in titles that stand the test of time," Redin said.
Raid: Shadow Legends, for instance, still has many years of revenue potential, but the company also recognises the need for a fresh pipeline. Industry peers warn that the western mobile market is "coasting"—only two of the 22 titles that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originated in the West.
Even Supercell, a giant in the space, has struggled to launch successful new games despite heavy investment in incubation programs. Redin acknowledges the difficulty: "It’s hard to make a successful game and scale it," she said, noting that Plarium has a new title slated for a soft launch early next year.
She believes that nurturing new projects is essential to preserving studio DNA, creativity, and passion. Looking at the macro picture, Redin sees continued opportunity despite the market’s maturation. "There are three billion gamers worldwide, so the market is still compelling," she affirmed. Competition for user attention now includes streaming services, social media, and other digital entertainment, but she remains optimistic about growth, even if the hyper‑growth era is behind us.
"We’re seeing low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit growth depending on the data source. To exceed that, we must keep investing in strong evergreen IPs and also bring new games to market," she concluded.