In February of the previous year, Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening move in a broader expansion agenda, 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 overall size 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 is aggressive: the goal is to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years. Redin noted that MTG has already demonstrated the capacity to scale quickly, pointing to a 2021 ambition that resulted in a tripling of the business.
The mobile market, which a few years ago was expanding at double‑digit rates, has now settled into single‑digit growth, reflecting a maturing sector. What was once a blue ocean has turned a deep red, meaning future expansion will likely involve capturing market share from rivals or absorbing them entirely. Acquiring companies is the straightforward part; integrating them into a cohesive operation is where most firms stumble. The industry is littered with stories of failed integrations that led to studio shutdowns.
MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap. Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned several 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”: a Casual District and a Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences. The districts have now been renamed Playsimple and Playamp.
Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, 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 cosmetic; the aim is to create "one of the leading gaming villages." The term "village" is intended to foster a sense of community and belonging, which she believes is crucial for retaining talent after a wave of acquisitions.
"People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to create an environment for them to thrive," Redin 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." A key element of the integration plan is the standardisation of technology and tools across the group. Redin has pursued this agenda since becoming CEO in 2020, but she says the Plarium deal gave MTG the scale needed to roll it out fully. She acknowledges the risks—citing Electronic Arts’ problematic push to force all studios onto the Frostbite engine—but notes that the tech requirements of Playsimple and Playamp differ significantly, so the two divisions are being equipped with separate stacks.
For the Midcore (Playamp) side, MTG has selected components of Plarium’s tech suite to share group‑wide, deploying them selectively after a thorough internal assessment of where collaboration makes sense. Playsimple will use a different foundation that will become the baseline for future casual acquisitions. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑data platform are already being leveraged across the company, with additional features being added to enhance studio output. The company is also embracing generative AI, a trend that is reshaping the mobile sector.
InnoGames, for example, has been using AI to generate all of the content for its Sunrise Village game and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin sees AI as a powerful new tool that can accelerate development, improve A/B testing, assist with graphics and quality assurance, and generally make games more relevant to players. She stresses that AI should augment—not replace—human creativity: "Our talent has an amazing creativity that doesn’t sit yet within AI. But if we don’t embrace AI, we will be slower than our competitors." According to Redin, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by the single casual studio, Playsimple.
She is eager to expand both sides, noting that the company purchased Snowprint a few years ago and would welcome additional studios with similar capabilities. Redin also hinted at the possibility of adding a third "district" to the gaming village, likely centred around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics. When asked about the future of mobile gaming, Redin observed that the top‑ten charts have remained remarkably stable, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen intellectual properties.
While Raid : Shadow Legends still has many years of life ahead, the company continues to invest in new titles to keep the pipeline fresh. Plarium, for instance, is preparing a new game for soft launch early next year. The broader market context is one of modest growth.
With roughly three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains attractive, but hyper‑growth rates have faded. Redin acknowledges that single‑digit growth is now the norm, and surpassing that baseline will require a mix of strengthening existing evergreen IPs and bringing new games to market.
She concludes that while the mobile landscape is competitive—facing streaming services, social media, and other forms of digital entertainment—there is still ample room for MTG to grow by balancing proven franchises with fresh, innovative experiences.