In February of the previous 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 transaction, while already significant, appears to be only the opening move in a broader strategic play. "Last year we articulated a clear vision: after bringing Plarium into the fold, we intend to double the size of MTG once more," Maria Redin, who serves as both president and chief executive officer, told GamesIndustry.biz.
"We will continue to nurture organic growth, but to reach the scale we envision we must pursue additional acquisitions." The timeline attached to this ambition is bold. Redin estimates that the company aims to achieve the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year window.
She notes that MTG has already demonstrated the capacity to meet aggressive targets, pointing out that a similar growth goal set in 2021 resulted in the firm tripling its size. A few years ago the mobile gaming sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but that momentum has now slowed to single‑digit growth, reflecting a market that is rapidly maturing.
What once resembled a blue‑ocean landscape has turned increasingly red, meaning that future expansion will often involve capturing market share from rivals—or outright absorbing them. Acquiring companies is the relatively straightforward part of the equation; integrating them into an existing corporate structure is where many firms stumble.
The industry is littered with cautionary tales of poorly executed integrations that culminated in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a roadmap to avoid those pitfalls.
Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (the team behind Forge of Empires), Snowprint (creator of Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (developer of F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (known for Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (makers of Merge Gardens). These studios were originally grouped into two “districts”: the Casual District and the Midcore District, the latter covering games that sit between purely casual and hardcore experiences.
These districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp. Playsimple, named after the India‑based studio behind WordTrip, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp comprises the majority of MTG’s portfolio—games that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases. The rebranding is only the tip of the iceberg. Redin says the overarching goal is to build “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term "village" is deliberately chosen to evoke a sense of community and belonging, a strategy aimed at improving employee retention and fostering smoother integration of newly acquired teams.
"Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin explains. "People are our greatest asset, but they need an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio we intend for the founders and their teams to stay on board, because that is when the real story begins and the business can scale. The only way to keep them is to create a workplace they enjoy." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its entire ecosystem.
Redin notes that not every piece of software needs to be built from scratch for each studio. The push for a unified tech stack began when she took the helm in 2020, but it was the scale provided by the Plarium acquisition that finally allowed the vision to be rolled out company‑wide. Standardisation is a double‑edged sword.
Electronic Arts famously forced its studios to adopt the Frostbite engine, creating considerable friction for teams working on titles like Mass Effect. Redin acknowledges those lessons and stresses that the needs of Playsimple differ markedly from those of Playamp, so the two divisions are being equipped with distinct technology suites.
"Playsimple’s tech stack will become the foundation for any future casual‑district acquisitions," she says. "For the midcore side, we have selected certain components of Plarium’s tech suite to deploy across the group, but we are rolling them out selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio.
We conducted a thorough internal assessment to determine where collaboration makes sense and where it does not." Both Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and its product‑data platform (PDP) are now being leveraged throughout MTG, with additional features and functionality being added to enhance their usefulness. The aim is to maximise the return on investment by equipping studios with the best possible tools. Generative AI is another area where MTG is making rapid progress. InnoGames, for instance, has been using AI‑generated assets for its mobile title Sunrise Village for some time and plans to broaden AI‑driven content creation across its entire catalogue.
Redin observes that this mirrors a broader industry trend: AI is being woven into the production pipeline to accelerate development and improve quality. "Across the board, we are having similar conversations about how to integrate new technology into our workflows," she says. "Generative AI is far more powerful than any tool we have previously had access to.
The challenge is finding the right balance—identifying where we change the workflow, where we keep it the same, and where AI can add the most value." The company’s approach is to layer AI on top of existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphic creation, quality assurance, and more. Successful AI solutions that emerge from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices. "We give our studios the freedom to experiment within the parameters of our overarching AI framework," Redin explains.
"When one team develops a breakthrough, we can quickly roll it out across the group." When asked whether AI has become indispensable in the fiercely competitive mobile market, Redin offers a measured view. "It would be dangerous to claim AI can replace everything we do," she says. "Our talent brings a level of creativity that AI cannot yet replicate. However, if we ignore AI we risk falling behind competitors.
By embracing it, we can accelerate development, maintain our creative edge, and deliver better games faster." She cites concrete examples where AI can fill capacity gaps—coding, art production, and complex logic—thereby "supercharging" the development process while preserving the human spark that drives innovation. Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s earnings now come from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by the casual‑district studio Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business.
"We acquired Snowprint a few years ago; if we could find five more studios like Snowprint around the world, that would be fantastic. On the casual side we also want to add scale," she says. The prospect of a third district is already on the table. While the exact focus of this potential new segment is still undefined, Redin suggests it would build on the core capabilities MTG already possesses—most likely leveraging the marketing and data platforms that have proven successful.
From a product perspective, the outlook remains familiar. The top‑ten mobile games list changes little year after year, and MTG’s strategy has always been anchored in evergreen IPs. "The top games stay consistent, and we have believed from day one that evergreen titles are the backbone of a sustainable portfolio," Redin notes.
Nevertheless, the company does not ignore the need for fresh experiences. Raid: Shadow Legends, for example, still has many years of revenue potential, but MTG continues to invest in new titles to keep the pipeline active. Redin acknowledges the difficulty of launching successful new games, especially as the western mobile market appears to be "coasting"—only two of the 22 mobile titles that have surpassed $1 billion since 2020 originated from the West. She points out that even industry leaders like Supercell have struggled to turn new incubated projects into hits; Squad Busters was discontinued after a brief launch in 2024.
"Creating and scaling a hit game is hard," Redin admits, adding that Plarium has a new title slated for a soft launch early next year. Redin believes that continuing to fund new games is essential to preserving the creative DNA of each studio. "If we stopped investing in new titles, we would erode the passion and drive that fuels our teams," she says.
Looking at the macro environment, Redin sees a large, still‑growing audience—approximately three billion gamers worldwide—but acknowledges that the era of hyper‑growth is likely over. "We now see low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit growth rates across the board. To exceed that, we must double‑down on strong evergreen IPs while also bringing fresh games to market," she concludes.