In February of last year, the Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million acquisition of Plarium, the developer behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. According to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive officer, that deal is only the opening move in a much larger growth play. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a bold vision after the Plarium purchase: “We want to double our size again.” She added that organic expansion will continue, but achieving the target will require further acquisitions. The timeline she outlined is roughly three to five years, a cadence that reflects MTG’s confidence after a previous ambition set in 2021 that resulted in a tripling of the firm’s scale.
The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically over the past few years. Double‑digit growth rates that once characterized the sector have tapered to single‑digit expansion, signalling a mature market where the low‑hanging fruit has been harvested. The once‑blue ocean now appears more like a crowded, competitive arena, where growth often means taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright.
Acquiring companies is the straightforward part of the equation; integrating them smoothly is where many firms stumble. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of studios that were bought only to be dismantled after a botched merger.
MTG, however, believes it has a roadmap to avoid those pitfalls. 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”: a Casual District and a Midcore District, the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences. The recent rebranding renamed these districts Playsimple and Playamp respectively.
Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, focuses on free‑to‑play, ad‑supported games, while Playamp houses titles that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases. Redin emphasized that the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it is intended to forge “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term village is deliberately chosen to evoke a sense of community and belonging, which she says is essential for retaining talent after rapid expansion. “People are one of our biggest assets,” Redin explained.
“We need to create an environment where they thrive, and that means keeping founders and teams on board after an acquisition so the real story can continue to unfold.” Standardising technology across the newly expanded group has also been a priority. Since Redin took the helm in 2020, MTG has pursued a unified tech stack, but the scale required to roll it out fully only arrived with Plarium’s addition.
The company is now applying a common set of tools where it makes sense, while respecting the distinct needs of its Casual and Midcore divisions. For example, Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve future Casual acquisitions, whereas the Midcore side is selectively adopting components of Plarium’s suite. Redin noted that internal assessments have identified where shared tools add value and where they would hinder progress. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being leveraged across MTG, with additional features being built on top of them.
The goal is to amplify studio productivity and ensure that investments deliver the highest possible return. “We want to put our effort where we get the biggest bang for our buck,” Redin said, adding that the Playamp division will be supercharged with a robust tech suite that builds on existing capabilities. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another lever MTG is pulling.
InnoGames disclosed that much of the content for its Sunrise Village title is now AI‑generated, and the studio plans to broaden that approach. Redin sees AI as a common thread across the mobile sector, with many peers exploring how to embed AI into production pipelines.
She described AI as “significantly more powerful than any tool we’ve had before,” but cautioned that the industry must find a balance between automation and creative input. The company’s AI strategy focuses on augmenting existing workflows—such as A/B testing, graphic creation, quality assurance, and analytics—rather than replacing human designers.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being packaged into the Plarium tech suite for company‑wide rollout. Redin stressed the importance of allowing each studio the freedom to experiment within an overarching AI framework, then disseminating the best practices across the group. When asked whether AI will eventually make human designers obsolete, Redin was skeptical. She believes creativity remains a uniquely human trait that AI cannot fully replicate.
Yet she also warned that ignoring AI would leave MTG trailing competitors who are already harnessing its speed and efficiency. “AI can help us overcome capacity shortfalls,” she said, citing coding, art production, and complex logic as areas where AI can provide a boost.
Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp district, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin expressed a desire to broaden both sides of the business.
She cited Snowprint as a model—if MTG could replicate that studio’s success five times over, it would be a major win. On the Casual side, the company hopes to add more studios to increase scale, and is even entertaining the idea of a third “district” that would leverage 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.
This consistency underpins MTG’s belief in evergreen intellectual property. While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of life left, the company continues to invest in new titles to keep its pipeline fresh. Plarium, for instance, is preparing a soft launch for a new game early next year.
The broader industry context is sobering. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen has 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 incubation efforts have struggled; its Squad Busters project was discontinued after a 2024 launch. Redin acknowledges the difficulty of creating hit games, but argues that a steady flow of new releases is essential to preserve studio DNA, creativity, and passion. Looking ahead, Redin sees a market still worth pursuing. With roughly three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains compelling, even if growth rates have settled into low‑ to mid‑single‑digit figures.
To outpace that baseline, MTG plans to double down on strong evergreen IPs while also delivering fresh experiences. In her words, “If you want to grow above and beyond that, 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.”