In February of last 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 deal, however, is only the opening act of a much larger growth narrative, 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 again within the next three to five years. “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, but Redin points out that MTG has already proven it can deliver on bold targets. The firm pursued a similar goal in 2021 and, as she recalled, “we think we tripled.” This historical momentum gives the leadership confidence that a second doubling is achievable, even as the mobile market has shifted from a high‑growth, double‑digit phase to a more mature, single‑digit growth environment.
The once‑blue ocean of mobile gaming has turned “quite red,” meaning that future expansion will likely involve capturing market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. Acquiring companies is the relatively straightforward part of the equation; integrating them successfully is where many firms stumble.
The industry is littered with cautionary tales of studios that were bought only to be shut down later because of poor post‑merger integration. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap. Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned a suite of mobile studios, including InnoGames (known for 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 purely casual and hardcore experiences. Following the acquisition, MTG rebranded these divisions as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively.
Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, now houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio, which relies on in‑app purchases (IAPs). Redin says the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it 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 that encourages talent to stay and thrive. “Gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions,” she noted.
“People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to 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 this integration plan is the standardisation of technology and tools across the MTG portfolio. Redin has been championing this effort since becoming CEO in 2020, but she believes the scale achieved after the Plarium deal finally allows the vision to be fully realised. The approach is pragmatic: not every studio will be forced onto a single platform.
Playsimple’s tech stack will serve as the foundation for future casual acquisitions, while the Midcore side will adopt selected elements of Plarium’s technology suite, rolled out selectively after a thorough internal assessment of where collaboration 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 their utility. Redin emphasises that the goal is to maximise impact: “We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck. We have some amazing game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge that with a tech suite they can leverage, elevating everything that was already done.” Artificial intelligence is another area where MTG is investing heavily.
Generative AI tools are already being used at InnoGames, where all content for the mobile title Sunrise Village is produced with AI assistance, and the company plans to expand AI‑generated content across its catalogue. Redin sees this as a broader industry trend: “I would say for most parties I speak to in the industry, we are all having similar discussions on how we are embracing new technology in our production chain.” She describes generative AI as “significantly more powerful than any other tool we’ve had before,” and stresses the need to find a balanced workflow that incorporates AI for tasks such as A/B testing, graphics creation, and quality assurance while preserving human creativity. When asked whether AI could eventually replace human designers, Redin responded cautiously.
She believes AI will not supplant creative talent but will act as a catalyst that accelerates development and helps address capacity shortfalls. “If we don’t embrace AI, we will be slower than our competitors.
We keep the creativity, innovation, and vision of our team, but we can leverage completely new levels of technology next to it,” she said. Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now stems from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She cited Snowprint as an example of a studio she would love to replicate globally: “If we could find five more Snowprints around the world, that would be fantastic.” Although Playsimple currently consists of a single studio, Redin hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the gaming village, potentially built around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics.
Despite the market’s maturation, Redin remains optimistic about growth opportunities. She observes that the top‑ten mobile games list changes very little year over year, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen intellectual property. While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of life ahead, the company continues to invest in new titles to keep the pipeline fresh. Redin acknowledges the difficulty of launching successful new games, noting that even industry leaders like Supercell struggle to replicate past blockbuster successes.
Nevertheless, she argues that a pipeline of fresh IPs is essential for retaining the creative DNA of each studio and sustaining long‑term relevance. In summary, MTG’s roadmap combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, AI‑enhanced production, and a balanced portfolio of evergreen and new titles.
Redin’s vision of a cohesive “gaming village” aims to keep talent engaged, accelerate development, and ultimately double the company’s size within the next few years, even as the mobile gaming market settles into a more measured growth trajectory.