Maria Redin of MTG Discusses Rebranding, Acquiring Raid: Shadow Legends, and Ambitions to Double Company Size

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‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening move in a much larger plan, according to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive officer. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the group’s vision, set out after the Plarium acquisition, is to double the size of the business once again. “We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she said.

“And yes, we want to fuel and continue to drive organic growth, but in order to do that, we will need to do more acquisitions.” The timeline she proposes is aggressive: the target is to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years. Redin noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to scale quickly – the company tripled its size after a similar ambition was announced in 2021.

This historical precedent gives her confidence that the new goal is attainable. The mobile gaming landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. A few years ago, the sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but growth has now settled into single‑digit percentages, signalling a maturing market.

What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped users has become a highly competitive, red‑filled arena where any additional market share often has to be taken from a rival or achieved through outright acquisition. Buying companies is the relatively easy part of the equation; the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly into an existing corporate structure.

The industry is littered with cautionary tales of poorly managed mergers that resulted in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration. Before adding Plarium, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (known for Forge of Empires), Snowprint (Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (Merge Gardens). These studios were organized into two “districts”: a Casual District and a 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 Indian 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 aim is to create “one of the leading gaming villages,” a phrase chosen deliberately to evoke a sense of community and belonging.

The emphasis is on employee retention and cultural integration, which is crucial for a company that has been on an acquisition spree. “People are one of our biggest assets,” she explained.

“We buy our companies, which also means that we want the founders and the teams to stay on board post‑acquisition, because that’s when the true exciting story should start and you continue to scale the businesses.” She added that the only way to keep talent is to provide an environment they enjoy. Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its studios – a process that began when Redin took the helm in 2020 but only gained the necessary scale after Plarium joined the group.

The goal is not to force every studio to use the same bespoke system, but to create a common foundation where it makes sense. “Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and PDP data platform are being used across MTG, and we are adding features and functionality to them,” Redin said. “We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck.” Redin acknowledges the pitfalls of a one‑size‑fits‑all approach, citing Electronic Arts’ troubled rollout of the Frostbite engine as an example. Consequently, MTG treats the tech stacks of Playsimple and Playamp separately.

For the casual side, Playsimple’s stack will become the baseline for future casual acquisitions. For the midcore side, selected elements of Plarium’s technology are being rolled out selectively, after a thorough internal assessment of where collaboration makes sense. Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s growth strategy. Generative AI is already reshaping content creation across the mobile sector.

InnoGames, for instance, has been using AI‑generated assets for its game Sunrise Village and plans to expand AI‑driven content creation further. Redin observes that many industry peers are having similar conversations about embedding AI into their production pipelines.

She believes AI is “significantly more powerful than any other tool we’ve had before” and is being layered onto existing workflows for tasks such as A/B testing, graphics generation, and quality assurance. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices. “We need to allow our different studios to try different things, as long as it fits into our overarching AI framework,” Redin explained.

“Then we share the learnings, and when one company develops something really good, we can quickly roll that out on a broader scale.” When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin cautioned against such deterministic thinking. She stressed that creativity remains a uniquely human trait that AI cannot replicate.

However, she warned that companies that ignore AI risk falling behind competitors who leverage the technology to accelerate development and improve game quality. “AI can super‑charge everything we do,” she said. “We keep the creativity, innovation, and vision of our team, but we can also leverage completely new levels of technology next to it.” Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the casual side contributing roughly 20 %.

Redin is eager to expand both sides. She noted that MTG bought Snowprint a few years ago and would love to acquire more studios with similar capabilities. On the casual front, the group currently operates a single studio, Playsimple, but sees potential for adding a third “district” to the gaming village, possibly centred around marketing platforms or data analytics.

Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes there is still room for growth. The top‑ten mobile games list changes little year after year, reinforcing the importance of evergreen IPs.

While Raid : Shadow Legends has many more years ahead, MTG continues to invest in new titles to keep the pipeline fresh. Redin acknowledged the difficulty of launching successful new games, citing Supercell’s recent struggles with new titles, but argued that a pipeline of fresh IPs is essential to retain creative DNA and drive future expansion.

In summary, MTG’s roadmap combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, AI‑enhanced production, and a balanced portfolio of evergreen and new titles. Redin’s vision of a thriving “gaming village” hinges on retaining talent, sharing tools, and continuously investing in both proven franchises and innovative concepts, all aimed at achieving the ambitious goal of doubling the company’s size within the next few years.