In February of the previous year, Sweden’s mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection game Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening move in what the company’s chief executive, Maria Redin, describes as an aggressive expansion agenda.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the vision set out after the Plarium acquisition was to double MTG’s size once again, and that the company intends to achieve that goal primarily through further purchases. “We want to keep driving organic growth, but to do that we’ll need to add more acquisitions to the mix,” she said. The timeline she cited is roughly three to five years, a schedule that matches a similar ambition the group announced in 2021, a period during which MTG says it tripled its revenue. The mobile gaming landscape has changed dramatically in recent years.
A few years ago, the sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but today growth has settled into single‑digit territory, reflecting a market that is maturing quickly. What was once a blue‑ocean environment now feels more like a crowded red sea, where expanding market share often means either taking pieces from competitors or absorbing them outright. Acquiring studios is the easy part; integrating them into a cohesive operation is notoriously hard. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of failed mergers that led to studio closures.
MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration. Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile developers, including 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 originally split 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 Indian studio behind WordTrip, gathers free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp houses the in‑app‑purchase‑driven games that make up the bulk of MTG’s revenue. Redin says the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it is part of a broader effort to create what she calls “one of the leading gaming villages.” The name is meant to evoke a sense of community and belonging, encouraging talent to stay and thrive within the group.
“People are our biggest asset,” she explained, “but we also have to build an environment where they can flourish. When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to remain on board because that’s when the real story begins – scaling the business together.” Standardising technology across the newly enlarged organisation has also been a priority since Redin took the helm in 2020, but the Plarium deal gave MTG the scale needed to roll the plan out fully.
The company is not attempting a one‑size‑fits‑all approach; instead, it tailors toolsets to the needs of each district. Playsimple’s tech stack will serve as the foundation for future casual acquisitions, while Playamp will adopt selected components of Plarium’s technology suite, deployed selectively after a thorough internal assessment of where shared tools make sense. Key Plarium platforms – the GoGame marketing engine and a product‑data‑platform (PDP) – are already being used across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance their utility. Redin believes that concentrating resources on the most impactful tools will amplify the output of all studios.
“We have fantastic game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge them with a tech suite they can leverage, elevating everything they already do,” she said. Artificial intelligence is another area where MTG is making significant strides. InnoGames, for example, has been generating content for its Sunrise Village title with AI for some time and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin notes that AI is being woven into many production pipelines, from A/B testing and graphics generation to quality assurance.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the shared Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin cautioned against such a deterministic view. “Our talent’s imagination is still something AI can’t replicate,” she said. “But if we ignore AI, we’ll fall behind competitors.
The goal is to combine human creativity with the speed and scale that AI offers, especially when we face capacity constraints.” Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the casual Playsimple side contributing roughly 20 %. Redin is eager to broaden both sides: she mentioned the recent acquisition of Snowprint and expressed interest in finding “five more Snowprints around the world.” While Playsimple currently consists of a single studio, the company is exploring the possibility of adding a third district that would leverage its existing marketing and data capabilities.
Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes evergreen IPs remain central to MTG’s strategy. The top‑ten mobile games change little from year to year, and titles like Raid: Shadow Legends still have many years of revenue potential. Nevertheless, the company is not abandoning new‑game development. Plarium is preparing to soft‑launch a fresh title early next year, and MTG acknowledges that a steady pipeline of new experiences is essential to keep creative energy alive.
Industry observers such as Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen warn that western mobile developers are “coasting,” noting that only two of the 22 games that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originated in the West. Yet even Supercell has struggled to turn new incubated projects into hits, as illustrated by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters.
Redin concedes that creating a breakout title is difficult, but she argues that without investing in new games a company risks losing the creative DNA that fuels long‑term success. “We have three billion gamers worldwide,” she said. “The market is still compelling, even if growth has slowed to low‑single‑digit or mid‑single‑digit rates. To exceed that baseline, we must nurture our evergreen franchises while also bringing fresh experiences to players.” In summary, MTG’s roadmap under Maria Redin combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, district‑based branding, technology standardisation, and AI‑enhanced production.
The aim is to double the company’s size within a few years, sustain its dominant position in the midcore segment, and build a collaborative “gaming village” where talent and technology work hand‑in‑hand to deliver both enduring hits and innovative new titles.