In February of last year, Sweden's mobile entertainment leader Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million acquisition of Plarium, the developer behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, while already sizable, appears to be only the first step in a broader expansion agenda, according to MTG's president and chief executive, Maria Redin. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a bold vision after the Plarium purchase: "Post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size." She added that organic growth will continue to be a priority, but that achieving the next doubling will require "more acquisitions" to fuel that expansion.
The timeline she outlined is ambitious—aiming to double the group's scale within roughly three to five years. Redin noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to meet aggressive targets, pointing to a 2021 ambition that resulted in a three‑fold increase in size.
The mobile gaming market, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has now settled into a mature, single‑digit expansion phase. What used to be a blue‑ocean of untapped users has become a crowded, competitive arena where growth often means capturing market share from rivals or absorbing them outright.
While buying companies is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating them effectively—a process that has tripped up many firms in the industry, leading to studio closures and lost talent. MTG entered the acquisition phase with a solid foundation of studios. Before adding Plarium, its portfolio already included InnoGames (known for Forge of Empires), Snowprint (creator of Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (developer of F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (behind Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (makers of Merge Gardens). These studios were originally organized into two segments: the Casual District and the Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences.
Following the recent rebranding, those segments are now called 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 currently represent the bulk of MTG's earnings. The rebranding goes beyond a simple name change. Redin emphasized that the goal is to build "one of the leading gaming villages," a phrase chosen to convey a sense of community and belonging for employees across the expanding group.
Retaining talent is a top priority, especially after a wave of acquisitions. "People are one of our biggest assets," Redin said, "and we need to create an environment where they can thrive.
When we buy a studio we want the founders and teams to stay, because that's when the real story begins and we can scale the business further. The only way to make that happen is to give them a workplace they enjoy." A key part of the integration strategy has been the standardisation of technology and tools across MTG.
Redin explained that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; instead, a common foundation can accelerate development and reduce duplication of effort. This standardisation drive began when she became CEO in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after the Plarium deal. She acknowledged the pitfalls of forced uniformity—citing Electronic Arts' problematic rollout of the Frostbite engine—but stressed that MTG is handling the two districts separately, recognising that Playsimple's needs differ dramatically from Playamp's. "Playsimple's tech stack will become the baseline for future casual studios we bring in," Redin said.
"For Midcore, we've selected components of Plarium's technology suite to use group‑wide, but we're deploying them selectively to ensure the end result benefits all companies. We've conducted a thorough internal assessment to decide where collaboration makes sense and where it doesn't." Plarium's GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page data system are already being leveraged across MTG, with additional features and functionality being added to enhance their utility.
The intention is to maximise impact with the least waste: "We want to put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck," Redin explained. "We have amazing game makers across the group, and with Playamp we aim to super‑charge them with a tech suite that elevates everything they've already built." Generative AI is another major focus. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village for some time and is looking to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin observed that AI is becoming embedded in production pipelines throughout the mobile sector.
"Most of the people I talk to are having similar discussions about how to adopt new technology," she said, adding that generative AI is "significantly more powerful than any other tool we had before." The company is experimenting with AI in areas such as A/B testing, graphics generation, quality assurance, and analytics. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing other studios to adopt proven methods quickly.
"We need to let our studios try different things within our overarching AI framework," Redin noted. "When one team develops something great, we can roll it out across the group fast." When asked whether AI is now a prerequisite for competing in the fast‑moving mobile market, Redin cautioned against overstatement.
"I often get the question, will gaming AI be able to do everything you do? I don't think so," she replied. "What matters most is human creativity, which AI hasn't mastered yet.
However, if we ignore AI we risk falling behind competitors. AI can supercharge our work, filling capacity gaps in analysis, coding, art, and complex logic, while we retain the creative vision of our teams." Financially, about 80 % of MTG's revenue comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by the casual side, which currently consists of a single studio—Playsimple. Redin expressed enthusiasm for expanding both sides: "We bought Snowprint a couple of years back, and if we could find five more Snowprints around the world, that would be fantastic.
On the casual side we want to add more scale as well." Looking ahead, Redin hinted at the possibility of adding a third "district" to the gaming village, though the exact focus remains undecided. It would likely build on existing core capabilities, such as marketing platforms or data analytics, to create a new pillar within the organization. Regarding the broader market, Redin observed that the top‑ten mobile games list has remained remarkably stable over the years.
"Our thesis from day one has been a belief in evergreen IPs," she said. While MTG continues to invest heavily in proven titles like Raid, the company also recognises the need for a fresh pipeline. Plarium is preparing to soft‑launch a new title early next year, and Redin stressed that nurturing new games is essential to preserving studio DNA, creativity, and passion. Industry peers have warned that the western mobile sector is "coasting," with only two of the 22 titles that have crossed $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originating from the West.
Even Supercell, despite its incubation programmes, has struggled to launch successful new titles recently. Redin acknowledged these challenges, noting that building and scaling a hit game is difficult, but she remains confident that a balanced approach—supporting evergreen franchises while continuously feeding the pipeline with new concepts—will sustain growth. In summary, Maria Redin's roadmap for MTG blends aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, AI augmentation, and a dual focus on established evergreen IPs and fresh game development.
By fostering a collaborative "gaming village" culture and leveraging shared tools across its Playamp and Playsimple divisions, MTG aims to double its size within the next few years, even as the mobile market matures and competition intensifies.