Maria Redin of Mobile Powerhouse MTG Discusses Rebranding, Acquiring Raid: Shadow Legends, and Plans to Double Company Size

In February of last year, Sweden’s mobile entertainment leader Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the wildly popular hero‑collecting title Raid: Shadow Legends. Yet, according to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive, that deal is only the opening move in a broader expansion playbook. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a bold vision after the Plarium acquisition: to double its overall size once more. "We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size," she explained, adding that organic growth will continue but will need to be supplemented by further buy‑outs.

The target timeline is aggressive – roughly three to five years – but Redin noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to scale quickly, having tripled its size after a similar ambition was announced in 2021. The mobile gaming sector, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has now settled into a more mature, single‑digit expansion phase.

What was once a blue‑ocean market has turned decidedly red, meaning that future growth will often require taking market share from competitors or absorbing them outright. While acquiring studios can be straightforward, integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult; the industry is littered with examples of mergers that led to studio closures due to poor integration.

MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap. Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile developers, 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”: a Casual District and a Midcore District – the latter covering 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. Redin says the rebranding is more than cosmetic; it is part of a larger ambition to create “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term is deliberately inviting, meant to foster a sense of community that encourages talent to stay and thrive.

"Gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions," she said. "People are one of our biggest assets, but we also need an environment where they can flourish.

When we acquire a company, we want the founders and teams to remain after the deal because that is when the real story begins – scaling the business. The only way to ensure they stay is to make the workplace enjoyable." A key element of the post‑Plarium integration has been the standardisation of technology and tools across the MTG ecosystem.

Redin has pursued this agenda since becoming CEO in 2020, but she noted that the scale achieved after the Plarium acquisition finally allowed the vision to be fully realised. The company is careful not to repeat the pitfalls seen elsewhere – for example, Electronic Arts’ forced adoption of the Frostbite engine caused significant friction for studios working on titles like Mass Effect.

MTG instead treats the tech stacks of Playsimple and Playamp as distinct, deploying shared tools only where they add clear value. For the Midcore (Playamp) side, MTG has selected components of Plarium’s technology suite for group‑wide use, rolling them out selectively after a thorough internal assessment of where collaboration makes sense.

Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve as the baseline for future casual‑district acquisitions. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being leveraged across the group, with additional features being added to enhance studio output. Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s modernization drive. InnoGames, for instance, has been using generative AI to produce all of the content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and is exploring broader AI‑generated content across its catalogue.

Redin observes that AI is being woven into many stages of game development – from A/B testing and graphics creation to quality assurance – and that successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the shared Plarium tech suite. "We need to let our studios experiment within an overarching AI framework, share learnings, and quickly disseminate breakthroughs across the company," she said. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin was cautious. She believes that while AI can accelerate production and fill capacity gaps, the core creative spark still resides in people.

"If we ignore AI, we will fall behind competitors. Embracing it lets us keep our creative vision while leveraging new technological horsepower," she explained. 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 cited the recent Snowprint acquisition and expressed interest in finding “five more Snowprints around the world.” Although the casual side currently consists of a single studio (Playsimple), she hinted at the possibility of adding a third district in the future, likely built around the group’s existing marketing and data capabilities.

Despite the market’s maturity, Redin remains optimistic about growth opportunities. She points out that the top‑ten mobile games list changes very little each year, reinforcing the value of evergreen IPs such as Raid: Shadow Legends, which she believes still has many years of revenue potential.

Nevertheless, she stresses the importance of a steady pipeline of new titles to keep the creative engines humming. Plarium, for example, is preparing to soft‑launch a new game early next year.

The broader industry context is sobering: Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen warned that western mobile developers are “coasting,” with only two of the 22 mobile games that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have faced setbacks, as illustrated by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters. Redin acknowledges these challenges, noting that building a hit game and scaling it is difficult for any studio. Yet she argues that abandoning new‑game investment would erode the creative DNA of MTG’s studios.

"Investing in fresh titles preserves creativity, passion, and drive," she said. Looking ahead, Redin sees a market still worth pursuing. With roughly three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains compelling despite competition from streaming services, social media, and other entertainment options.

While the era of hyper‑growth may be over, MTG aims to achieve low‑ to mid‑single‑digit growth by bolstering its evergreen portfolio and continually bringing new experiences to players.