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 move in a broader expansion agenda, according to MTG’s president and chief executive officer, Maria Redin.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the acquisition of Plarium was deliberately timed to kick‑start a second wave of growth that would see MTG double its scale once more. “We set out the vision last year that after bringing Plarium into the fold we want to double again in size,” she explained. “We will keep driving organic growth, but to hit that target we need to pursue further acquisitions.” The timeline for this ambition is aggressive: Redin aims to achieve the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year horizon.
She noted that the company has already proven its capacity to scale quickly, pointing to a 2021 milestone when MTG’s revenue tripled after a series of strategic purchases. The mobile gaming landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. What was once a rapidly expanding, double‑digit growth market has slowed to single‑digit rates as the sector matures.
The once‑blue ocean of untapped users has turned a deep red, meaning that future growth will largely come from taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. Acquiring studios is the easy part; integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult. The industry is littered with examples of failed mergers that resulted in studio closures and talent loss. MTG, however, believes it has a clear integration playbook.
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 grouped into two “districts”: a Casual District for lighter, ad‑supported games and a Midcore District for titles that sit between casual and hardcore experiences. The recent rebranding has renamed these divisions Playsimple and Playamp, respectively.
Playsimple now houses free‑to‑play, ad‑driven products, while Playamp focuses on games that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases. Redin says the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it reflects a 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 across the rapidly expanding group of studios.
“People are one of our biggest assets,” she said. “We need to build an environment where they can thrive, because after we acquire a company we want the founders and teams to stay on board. The story really starts after the acquisition, when we scale the business together.” A key element of the integration strategy is the standardisation of technology and tools across MTG’s ecosystem. Redin has pursued this goal since becoming CEO in 2020, but she believes the Plarium acquisition finally gave the group sufficient scale to roll it out fully.
Rather than forcing every studio to adopt a single, monolithic engine—a mistake famously made by Electronic Arts with its Frostbite platform—MTG tailors its tech stack to the needs of each district. Playsimple’s tools are built for casual, ad‑centric games, while Playamp leverages a curated subset of Plarium’s technology, deployed selectively after thorough internal assessments of where shared tools add value. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑data platform (PDP) have already been rolled out across the group, with additional features being added to enhance functionality.
Redin emphasises that the aim is to concentrate resources where they deliver the highest return on investment, supercharging the existing talent pool with a robust, shared tech suite. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another pillar of MTG’s future roadmap. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI to generate all of the content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and is exploring broader AI‑driven content creation across its portfolio.
Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in many stages of game production—from A/B testing and graphics generation to quality assurance and analytics. Successful AI solutions developed in one studio are quickly propagated through the Plarium tech suite to benefit the entire group.
When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin cautioned against such deterministic thinking. “Our talent’s creativity is still something AI cannot replicate,” she said. “But if we ignore AI, we risk falling behind competitors who are leveraging it to accelerate development and improve player experiences.
AI should be seen as a force‑multiplier that lets our teams work faster and smarter while preserving the human spark that makes games compelling.” Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She cites Snowprint as a model: “If we could find five more Snowprints around the world, that would be fantastic.” On the casual side, she notes that Playsimple is currently a single studio but still contributes a solid fifth of total revenue.
The company is also entertaining the idea of a third district, which would likely centre on either advanced marketing capabilities or data‑driven services, though the exact shape remains under discussion. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list changes very little year over year, underscoring the importance of evergreen IPs. “Our thesis from day one has been to invest in long‑lasting titles,” she said. “Raid has many years of life left, but we also need a pipeline of new games to keep the portfolio fresh.” The challenge of launching new hits is evident across the industry.
Ilkka Paananen of Supercell warned that western mobile developers are “coasting,” with only two of the 22 games that have earned over $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled; the recently shuttered Squad Busters project illustrates how difficult it is to turn experimental concepts into profitable products. Redin acknowledges these hurdles but stresses that a complete reliance on legacy titles would erode the creative DNA of MTG’s studios. “Investing in new games keeps our teams passionate and innovative,” she said.
“Plarium, for instance, has a new title slated for a soft launch early next year, and we’re excited to see how it performs.” Looking ahead, Redin is realistic about growth rates. The mobile market now delivers low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit expansion, far below the hyper‑growth phase of the early 2010s. Nevertheless, she remains optimistic: “There are three billion gamers worldwide, so the market is still compelling.
We compete for attention with streaming services and social media, but I believe there is still room to grow.” To exceed the modest baseline growth, Redin argues that MTG must continue to nurture its evergreen franchises while simultaneously bringing fresh experiences to market. By combining a unified technology backbone, a community‑focused corporate culture, and strategic AI adoption, the Swedish group aims to double its size, expand its studio network, and maintain a leading position in the ever‑evolving mobile gaming arena.