In February of last year, the Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the wildly popular hero‑collection game Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening act of a much larger plan, according to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive officer. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s ambition, set shortly 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 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 she gave is aggressive: the target is to achieve this expansion within roughly three to five years. Redin noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to meet lofty goals, pointing to a 2021 ambition that resulted in the firm tripling its scale.
The mobile gaming sector, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has now settled into a single‑digit expansion rate as the market matures. What was once a blue‑ocean landscape has become increasingly competitive, forcing companies to either capture market share from rivals or absorb them outright. While buying studios can be straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating those acquisitions without triggering the kind of cultural clashes and studio closures that have plagued other conglomerates. MTG entered the Plarium deal already owning a portfolio of notable mobile studios: InnoGames (creator of Forge of Empires), Snowprint (Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons TD 6) and Futureplay (Merge Gardens).
These entities were previously grouped into two “districts” – the Casual District and the Midcore District – the latter referring to games that sit between 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 focuses on games that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases, which constitute the bulk of MTG’s earnings. Beyond a simple name change, Redin emphasized that the rebranding is part of a broader vision to create “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term “village” is meant to evoke a sense of community and belonging, helping to retain talent and smooth the integration of newly acquired teams.
“I always say gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions,” Redin said. “People are for sure one of our biggest assets, but you also need to make sure you create an environment for them to thrive in. 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 pillar of the integration strategy is the standardisation of technology and tools across the group.
Redin noted that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; instead, MTG is rolling out shared platforms wherever it makes sense. The push for standardisation began when she took the helm in 2020, but the scale required to implement it fully only arrived with the Plarium acquisition. “Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and PDP data platform are being used across MTG, and we’re adding features and functionality to them,” she explained. “We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck.” She was careful to distinguish between the needs of the two districts.
Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve future casual‑district acquisitions, while Playamp will adopt selected components of Plarium’s suite in a measured, selective rollout. This approach avoids the pitfalls seen elsewhere – for example, Electronic Arts’ forced adoption of the Frostbite engine, which caused significant friction across its studios. Artificial intelligence is another area where MTG is investing heavily.
InnoGames, for instance, has already been generating content for its Sunrise Village title using AI, and the studio plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin said AI is being woven into many parts of the development pipeline, from A/B testing and graphics generation to quality assurance. Successful AI tools from individual studios are being incorporated into the shared Plarium tech suite, creating a feedback loop that accelerates innovation across the whole group. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creators, Redin cautioned against such deterministic thinking.
“I often get the question, is gaming AI going to be able to do everything you do? And I actually don’t think so,” she replied.
“What is important is that our talent has amazing creativity, which doesn’t sit yet within AI. However, if we don’t embrace AI, we will be slower than our competitors. AI can super‑charge everything we do while we keep the creativity, innovation, and vision of our team.” Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple.
Redin expressed a desire to broaden both sides of the business. “We bought Snowprint a couple of years back, and if we could find five more Snowprints around the world, that would be fantastic,” she said. On the casual side, she noted that Playsimple is currently a single studio but still contributes a respectable share of income.
Looking ahead, she 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. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list remains relatively stable, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs.
“Our thesis from day one has been that we believe in evergreen IPs,” she affirmed. Nonetheless, she acknowledges the necessity of a fresh pipeline. Plarium is preparing to soft‑launch a new title early next year, and MTG continues to scout for fresh concepts to keep the creative engine humming.
Industry observers, such as Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen, warn that Western mobile developers are “coasting,” with only a handful of billion‑dollar hits emerging from the region in recent years. Redin agrees that building a hit is hard, but she argues that abandoning new‑game investment would erode the creative DNA of the studios. “Investing in new games is how you retain creativity, passion, and drive,” she said. In summary, Redin sees a market that, while no longer exploding with hyper‑growth, still offers meaningful expansion opportunities.
With roughly three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains compelling, even as it competes for attention with streaming services and social media. To outpace the modest single‑digit growth rates typical today, MTG plans to double down on its strong evergreen franchises while simultaneously nurturing new titles, leveraging AI, and fostering a collaborative “gaming village” that keeps talent engaged and productive.