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

In February of last year, Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening move in a broader expansion plan, according to MTG’s president and chief executive, Maria Redin.

Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s ambition, set after the Plarium acquisition, is to double its scale once more. “We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she explained. “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 is aggressive: Redin aims to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years.

She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the capacity to grow quickly, recalling that the firm pursued a similar target in 2021 and ended up tripling its size. The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically over the past few years.

Where once the sector enjoyed double‑digit growth, it now registers single‑digit increases as the market matures. What was once a blue ocean has turned a deep red, meaning that future expansion will likely require capturing competitors’ market share—or outright absorbing them.

Acquiring studios is the relatively straightforward part; integrating them is where many companies stumble. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of poorly managed mergers that resulted in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear integration roadmap.

Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned a suite of mobile developers, including InnoGames (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 pure casual and hardcore experiences.

The districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio, which relies on in‑app purchases. Redin says the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it is part of a vision to create “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term “village” is deliberately chosen to evoke a sense of community that employees want to belong to.

Retaining talent and fostering a cohesive culture are essential when a company grows by swallowing many independent studios. “Gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions,” Redin remarked. “People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to create an environment for them to thrive. We buy companies, which also means we want the founders and the teams to stay on board post‑acquisition, because that’s when the real story begins and you continue to scale the businesses.

The only way to make sure they stay is to build a workplace they enjoy.” Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its portfolio. Redin noted that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; a common foundation can accelerate growth. The push for standardisation began when she became CEO in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after the Plarium deal.

She referenced past industry missteps, such as Electronic Arts forcing studios to adopt the Frostbite engine, which caused friction on projects like Mass Effect. MTG’s approach is more nuanced: the Playsimple and Playamp divisions have distinct technical needs, so each receives a tailored suite of tools.

For the casual side, Playsimple’s stack will serve as the template for future acquisitions in that district. For midcore, MTG has selected elements of Plarium’s technology to deploy group‑wide, but only after a careful internal assessment of where sharing makes sense. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being leveraged across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality. Redin explained that the goal is to maximise impact: “We want to put 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 they can leverage, elevating everything that was already done.” Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another pillar of MTG’s strategy. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its portfolio.

Redin said AI is becoming embedded in many production pipelines, and she sees it as a powerful new tool that can enhance, rather than replace, human creativity. “We’re all having similar discussions on how we embrace new technology in our production chain,” she said. “Generative AI is significantly more powerful than any other tool we’ve had before. The challenge is finding the right balance—where do we change the workflow, where do we keep it, and where can AI add the most value?” MTG is focusing on integrating successful AI solutions from individual studios into the broader Plarium tech suite.

This includes AI‑assisted A/B testing, graphics generation, quality assurance, and more. Redin emphasized the importance of allowing studios to experiment within an overarching AI framework, then sharing learnings quickly across the group. When asked whether AI is now indispensable for competing in the fast‑moving mobile market, Redin cautioned against over‑hyping it. “I often get the question, ‘Is gaming AI going to be able to do everything you do?’ I don’t think so.

Our talent’s creativity isn’t fully captured by AI yet. However, if we don’t embrace AI, we’ll fall behind competitors. AI can super‑charge everything we do while we keep the human creativity, innovation, and vision at the core.” Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue stems from the Playamp division, with the casual side (Playsimple) contributing roughly 20 %. Redin is eager to broaden the roster of studios, noting that MTG purchased Snowprint a few years ago and would love to replicate that success globally.

She also hinted at the possibility of adding a third “district” to the gaming village, likely built around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes there is still room for growth.

She points out that the top‑ten mobile games remain remarkably stable year after year, reinforcing MTG’s belief in evergreen IPs. At the same time, she acknowledges the necessity of a fresh pipeline: “Raid has many years ahead of it, but we also need to keep creating new games.

That’s how we retain creativity and passion.” The broader industry context is sobering. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen warned that Western mobile gaming is “coasting,” with only two of the 22 titles that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West.

Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, as seen with the recent shutdown of Squad Busters. Redin agrees that launching and scaling a hit game is difficult, but she remains optimistic: “We have a new Plarium title slated for soft launch early next year. Investing in new games is essential; otherwise we lose part of the DNA that fuels creativity.” In summary, MTG’s roadmap blends aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, AI adoption, and a balanced focus on both evergreen franchises and fresh IPs.

Redin’s vision of a collaborative “gaming village” aims to keep talent motivated, streamline operations, and ultimately drive sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive mobile landscape.