In February of the previous year, Sweden’s mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the developer behind the wildly popular hero‑collecting title Raid: Shadow Legends. That transaction, while already sizeable, appears to be only the opening move in a broader, long‑term growth playbook, according to MTG’s president and chief executive officer, Maria Redin. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s vision, set out shortly after the Plarium deal, is to double MTG’s 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.
“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 she attached to that ambition is strikingly aggressive: Redin aims to achieve the doubling within a three‑to‑five‑year window. She noted that MTG has already proven capable of rapid scaling, pointing out that the firm set a similar target in 2021 and, in her words, “I think we tripled.” The mobile gaming landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. A few years ago, the sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but today growth has settled into single‑digit figures, reflecting a market that is maturing quickly. What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped opportunity now feels more like a crowded red sea, where any further expansion typically means capturing market share from rivals or outright absorbing them through acquisition.
While buying companies is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly into an existing corporate structure. The games industry is littered with cautionary tales of acquisitions that went sour, often resulting in studio closures when cultural or technical mismatches emerged. Redin, however, believes MTG has a clear integration roadmap.
Before the Plarium purchase, MTG already owned a suite of mobile studios, including InnoGames (the creators of Forge of Empires), Snowprint (known for Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (developer of F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (the team behind Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (responsible for Merge Gardens). These studios were originally grouped into two “districts”: the Casual District and the Midcore District, the latter referring to games that sit between purely casual and hardcore experiences.
These districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio—games that rely primarily on in‑app purchases (IAPs). The rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it reflects a strategic shift toward building what Redin calls “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term is intentionally warm and community‑focused, meant to foster a sense of belonging among employees and to aid retention, especially as the company continues to absorb new studios.
"I always say gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions. So people are for sure one of our biggest assets, but then you also need to make sure you create an environment for them to thrive in," Redin said.
"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. And I say the only way you can [make sure they] stay is if you create an environment which they enjoy." A key pillar of that environment is technological standardisation. Since Redin took the helm in 2020, she has advocated for a common tech stack across MTG’s disparate studios, but the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after Plarium joined the group. "Because not everything needs to be built uniquely for every single company," she noted, emphasizing that the standardisation effort is selective and mindful of the differing needs of Playsimple versus Playamp.
The approach mirrors past industry attempts, such as Electronic Arts’ push to adopt its proprietary Frostbite engine across all studios—a move that generated considerable friction, especially for teams working on narrative‑driven titles like Mass Effect. Redin is careful to avoid a one‑size‑fits‑all mistake.
For the casual district, Playsimple’s own tech stack will serve as the foundation for future acquisitions, whereas the midcore Playamp division will selectively adopt components of Plarium’s technology suite. "We’ve done a very thorough internal assessment on where it makes sense that we collaborate and share technical tools, and where it doesn’t make sense," she explained. Two of Plarium’s platforms—GoGame, a marketing automation tool, and a product‑detail‑page (PDP) data platform—are already being deployed across MTG.
Redin said the company is also adding new features to these systems to boost studio productivity. "We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck," she said, noting that the Playamp studios will be "supercharged" by a shared tech suite that elevates existing capabilities. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another area where MTG is investing heavily. InnoGames, for instance, has been using AI‑generated assets for its mobile title Sunrise Village for some time and plans to broaden AI‑driven content creation across its portfolio.
Redin described AI as a "significantly more powerful" tool than anything the industry has previously accessed, and she stressed the importance of finding the right balance between automation and human creativity. "How are you changing your workflow? Where do you not change the workflow? How do we find areas to do more?
Because at the end of the day, it comes back to leveraging new tech to actually make our games more relevant for the players," Redin said. She added that AI is being layered onto existing pipelines for tasks 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 rapid cross‑studio dissemination of effective practices.
When asked whether AI will eventually replace human designers, Redin was cautious. "I often get the question, is gaming AI going to be able to do everything you do? And I actually don’t think so.
What is important is that our talent, our workforce has an amazing creativity. That doesn’t sit yet within AI," she responded. Yet she warned that ignoring AI would leave MTG lagging behind competitors. "If we don’t embrace AI, we are going to be slower than what our competitors are.
And we want to make sure that we continue to run forward at a good pace, and I think that’s where AI can supercharge everything we do." Financially, around 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin expressed enthusiasm for expanding both sides of the business.
She cited the acquisition of Snowprint a few years earlier and said that finding “five more Snowprints around the world” would be ideal. On the casual side, she noted that Playsimple is currently a single studio but still contributes a solid fifth of the group’s earnings. Looking ahead, Redin hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the gaming village, likely centred around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics.
Despite the focus on acquisitions and technology, Redin affirmed that MTG’s core philosophy remains unchanged: the company continues to rely heavily on evergreen IPs—games that generate steady revenue over many years. "Every year we do the same analysis, and you realise that the top games remain very consistent," she said, pointing out that titles like Raid: Shadow Legends have many more years of life ahead.
Nevertheless, she stressed that a pipeline of new games is essential to keep creative energy flowing and to avoid stagnation. The broader industry context is challenging.
Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen recently warned that the western mobile market is “coasting,” noting that only two of the 22 mobile games that have surpassed $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originated in the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, with projects such as Squad Busters being shut down after a brief launch. Redin acknowledged these difficulties, saying, "It’s hard to make a successful game and scale a game… but to not invest in new games would take away a little bit of the DNA of the different studios.
That is how you retain creativity, and that passion and drive." In summary, Redin sees a mature yet still sizable market—estimated at three billion gamers worldwide—as offering modest but sustainable growth. She expects single‑digit expansion rates, with occasional spikes depending on data sources, and believes that continued investment in strong evergreen titles combined with the launch of fresh experiences will be the formula for staying competitive. By blending strategic acquisitions, thoughtful rebranding, unified technology platforms, and a measured embrace of AI, MTG aims to double its scale within the next few years while fostering a collaborative, creative community for its developers.