In February of last year, Sweden's mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the developer behind the wildly popular hero‑collection game Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening move in a broader expansion playbook, according to MTG's president and chief executive, Maria Redin.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a clear vision after the Plarium acquisition: "We want to double our size again," she said, adding that organic growth will continue but that further acquisitions are essential to hit that target. The ambition is to achieve the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year horizon. She noted that MTG had already pursued a similar goal in 2021, during which the group roughly tripled its scale. The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years.
A few years ago the sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but growth has now settled into single‑digit territory, reflecting a maturing market. What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped users has become a crowded, competitive arena where gaining market share often means either out‑maneuvering rivals or absorbing them through acquisition. While buying studios is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating them successfully—a process that has tripped up many firms and sometimes resulted in studio closures.
MTG entered the Plarium deal already overseeing a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (known for Forge of Empires), Snowprint (creator of Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (developer of F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (behind Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (maker of Merge Gardens). These studios were previously grouped into two divisions: the Casual District and the Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences.
Following the acquisition, the districts were rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp focuses on games that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases, which now represent the bulk of MTG's earnings. Redin emphasized that the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it reflects a strategic effort to build "one of the leading gaming villages." The term "village" is intended to convey a sense of community and belonging, with the goal of retaining talent and fostering collaboration across the growing roster of studios. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," she explained.
"People are our biggest asset, but they need an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a company, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board because that’s when the real story begins and the business can scale further. The only way to make that happen is to create a workplace they enjoy." A major piece of the integration puzzle has been the standardisation of technology and tools across MTG’s ecosystem. Redin has pursued this agenda since becoming CEO in 2020, but she says the Plarium acquisition gave the group the scale needed to roll the vision out fully.
The aim is not to force every studio to use the same exact stack, but to establish common foundations where they add value. For example, the Playsimple division will use a unified tech foundation for future casual acquisitions, while the Midcore division will selectively adopt components of Plarium’s technology suite. "We performed a thorough internal assessment to determine where collaboration makes sense and where it doesn’t," Redin noted.
Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and its product‑detail‑page data system are already being deployed across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality. Redin believes these shared tools will boost productivity across all studios, allowing the group to concentrate resources where they generate the highest return. "We have amazing game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge them with a tech suite they can leverage, elevating everything that’s already been done." Artificial intelligence is another lever in MTG’s growth engine. Generative AI has already made a noticeable impact on the mobile sector.
InnoGames, for instance, disclosed that much of the content for its Sunrise Village title is now AI‑generated, and the studio plans to expand AI‑driven content creation further. Redin sees this as part of a broader industry trend where AI is woven into production pipelines.
She described generative AI as "significantly more powerful than any tool we’ve had before" and stressed the importance of finding the right balance between automation and human creativity. The company’s AI strategy focuses on layering intelligent capabilities onto existing workflows—enhancing A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and more. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices.
"We need to let our studios experiment within an overarching AI framework, share learnings, and quickly roll out breakthroughs across the group," Redin said. When asked whether AI is now indispensable for competing in the fast‑moving mobile market, Redin was cautious.
She does not believe AI will replace human creativity, but she warns that ignoring it could leave MTG lagging behind rivals. "Our talent’s imagination is still something AI can’t replicate, yet embracing AI helps us move faster and fill capacity gaps in analysis, coding, art, and advanced logic," she explained.
Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s income now stems from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the portfolio. She cited Snowprint as an example of a studio she would love to replicate globally, saying, "If we could find five more Snowprints around the world, that would be fantastic." While Playsimple currently consists of a single studio, Redin hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the "gaming village" in the future, likely centred around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics. Despite the market’s maturation, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list remains remarkably stable year after year.
This consistency reinforces MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen intellectual property. While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of revenue potential, Redin stressed that new titles are essential to keep the creative pipeline alive. Plarium, for instance, is preparing a fresh game for a soft launch early next year. The broader industry context is sobering.
Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell, warned that Western mobile developers are "coasting," noting that only two of the 22 mobile games surpassing $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originated from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have faced setbacks, with projects like Squad Busters being discontinued after a brief launch. Redin acknowledged the difficulty of producing hit games but argued that a pipeline of new releases is vital for preserving studio DNA, creativity, and passion.
She sees new titles as a key growth driver in a market that has shifted from hyper‑growth to low‑single‑digit or mid‑single‑digit expansion. "We have three billion gamers worldwide, so the market is still compelling," she said.
"We won’t see the explosive growth of the past, but by investing in strong evergreen IPs and continuously bringing fresh games to market, we can sustain and even exceed the modest growth rates we’re seeing today."