In February of the previous year, Sweden’s mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collecting title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, is only the opening act of a broader expansion agenda, according to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive officer. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a bold vision after the Plarium acquisition: to double its overall scale once again. “We laid out the plan last year that after bringing Plarium into the fold we want to double our size again,” she said.
“We will continue to drive organic growth, but to achieve that we’ll need to make further acquisitions.” The timeline attached to that ambition is aggressive. Redin estimates the doubling could be realized in roughly three to five years. She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to deliver on lofty targets: a similar goal set in 2021 resulted in a tripling of the firm’s footprint. The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years.
Where growth once surged in double‑digit percentages, the market now registers only single‑digit expansion, reflecting a maturing sector that has moved from a blue‑ocean to a fiercely contested red‑ocean environment. In such a climate, gaining market share typically means either capturing a competitor’s audience or absorbing the competitor outright. Acquiring studios is the straightforward part; the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly.
The industry is littered with cautionary tales of poorly managed mergers that culminated in studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration. 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 entities were organized into two “districts”: a Casual District and a Midcore District – the latter covering games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences.
Following the acquisition, the districts were 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 now constitute the bulk of MTG’s earnings. Redin emphasized that the rebranding is only the tip of the iceberg.
Her goal is to forge “one of the leading gaming villages,” a term she chose deliberately to evoke a sense of community and belonging. Retaining talent and fostering a cohesive culture are central to this vision, especially given the rapid succession of acquisitions. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin explained.
"People are our greatest asset, but they need an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board because that’s when the real story begins – scaling the business. The only way to ensure they stay is to create a workplace they enjoy." A major behind‑the‑scenes effort since the Plarium purchase has been the standardisation of technology and tools across MTG. Redin, who became CEO in 2020, has long advocated for a unified tech stack, but she says the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after Plarium joined the group.
Standardisation is not without risk. EA’s push to force all its studios onto the Frostbite engine famously caused turmoil for teams working on titles such as Mass Effect.
Redin is mindful of those pitfalls and stresses that the tech needs of Playsimple differ markedly from those of Playamp, so each division receives a tailored approach. "Playsimple’s tech foundation will become the baseline for any future casual‑district acquisitions," she noted. "For Midcore, we have selected components of Plarium’s suite to roll out group‑wide, but we are doing so selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio. We conducted a thorough internal assessment to decide where collaboration makes sense and where it does not." Both Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and its product‑detail‑page data system are already being leveraged across MTG, with additional features and functionality being added to enhance them.
Redin believes these shared tools will boost studio productivity and deliver a higher return on investment. Generative AI is another area reshaping MTG’s workflow.
InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and is exploring broader AI integration. Redin says AI is becoming embedded throughout the production pipeline, from A/B testing and graphic creation to quality assurance. "AI is far more powerful than any tool we’ve had before," she said. "We’re figuring out how to balance it with our existing processes – where to adjust workflows, where to keep them unchanged, and where AI can accelerate development.
The ultimate aim is to make our games more relevant to players and to bring new titles to market faster and better." She added that successful AI solutions developed in one studio are quickly propagated across the group, provided they align with MTG’s overarching AI framework of dos and don’ts. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creators, Redin was cautious. "I don’t think AI will do everything we do.
Creativity remains a uniquely human trait," she said. "But if we ignore AI, we’ll fall behind competitors.
Embracing it lets us maintain our creative vision while supercharging execution." Financially, roughly 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden the roster of studios in both districts.
She cited Snowprint as an example, saying that acquiring five more studios with a similar profile would be ideal. She also hinted at the possibility of adding a third “district” to the gaming village, likely built around the core capabilities of MTG’s marketing and data platforms. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list remains relatively static, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen intellectual property.
While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of revenue potential, MTG continues to invest in new titles to keep the pipeline fresh. Plarium, for instance, is preparing to soft‑launch a new game early next year. The broader industry context is sobering. Ilkka Paananen of Supercell warned that the Western mobile market is “coasting,” with only two of the 22 games that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West.
Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, as illustrated by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters. Redin acknowledges the difficulty of creating hit games but insists that a commitment to new development is essential for preserving studio DNA, creativity, and passion.
She sees continued growth as possible, albeit at a slower pace than the hyper‑growth era. “We have three billion gamers worldwide, so the market is still compelling,” she said. “Growth will likely be low‑ to mid‑single‑digit, but by investing in strong evergreen IPs and bringing fresh games to market, we can exceed that baseline.”