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‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. According to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive, that deal is only the opening move of a much larger ambition.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s vision, set out after the Plarium acquisition, is to double its overall size once again. “We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she said. “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 for this expansion is bold: Redin aims to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years. She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to grow quickly, pointing to a 2021 goal that resulted in a tripling of the business.
The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. Growth that once ran in double‑digit percentages has slowed to single‑digit rates as the market matures.
What used to be a blue‑ocean of untapped users now looks more like a crowded red sea, where gaining market share often means either taking customers from rivals or absorbing those rivals outright. Acquiring studios is the easier part of the equation; the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of mergers that led to cultural clashes, duplicated technology stacks, and ultimately studio closures. MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration.
Before buying Plarium, 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 pure casual and hardcore experiences.
Following the acquisition, the districts were renamed Playsimple and Playamp respectively. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, focuses on free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp houses the in‑app‑purchase‑driven games that now make up the bulk of MTG’s revenue.
Redin emphasized that the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change. She wants to build “one of the leading gaming villages,” a phrase she says is intended to foster a sense of belonging among employees. Retaining talent and ensuring smooth cultural integration are top priorities for a company that has been on an acquisition binge. “Gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions,” Redin explained.
“People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to create an environment for them to thrive. When we buy a company, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board after the deal, because that’s when the real story begins and we can scale the business further. The only way to make sure they stay is to build a workplace they enjoy.” Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its portfolio—a process Redin began pushing when she took the helm in 2020. The Plarium acquisition gave the group enough scale to roll out this vision fully.
Rather than forcing every studio to adopt a single, monolithic engine (a strategy that famously backfired for Electronic Arts with its Frostbite platform), MTG tailors its tech stacks to the needs of each district. Playsimple’s infrastructure will become the template for future casual acquisitions, while the Midcore district will selectively adopt components of Plarium’s tech suite. “We’ve done a very thorough internal assessment on where it makes sense to collaborate and share technical tools, and where it doesn’t,” Redin said.
“Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and PDP data platform are now being used across MTG, and we’re adding new features to them.” The goal is to maximise the return on investment by giving studios the best possible foundation without forcing unnecessary uniformity. Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s modernization effort. InnoGames, for example, has already been generating content for its mobile title Sunrise Village using AI, and the studio plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its portfolio.
Redin noted that AI is being woven into many parts of the production pipeline—A/B testing, graphic generation, quality assurance, and more. Successful AI tools from individual studios are being folded into the broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of innovations. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human developers, Redin was cautious.
“I often get the question, is gaming AI going to be able to do everything you do? I don’t think so,” she replied. “What’s important is our talent’s creativity, which AI can’t replicate yet.
However, if we ignore AI we’ll fall behind competitors. AI can super‑charge our work, fill capacity gaps, and help us bring games to market faster and at higher quality.” Revenue-wise, roughly 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple.
Redin expressed a desire to broaden both sides of the business. “We bought Snowprint a couple of years back, and if we could find five more Snowprints around the world, that would be fantastic,” she said. On the casual side, she hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the gaming village, perhaps centred around the company’s marketing and data capabilities. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes there is still room for growth.
“We have three billion gamers worldwide, so is it a compelling market? Yes,” she affirmed. “We won’t see the hyper‑growth of the past, but low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit growth is realistic.
To exceed that, we need to keep investing in evergreen IPs while also bringing fresh titles to market.” MTG’s strategy, therefore, is a blend of doubling down on proven franchises—like Raid, which Redin expects to have many more profitable years ahead—and nurturing a pipeline of new games to keep the creative engine humming. She acknowledged the difficulty of launching successful new titles, citing industry‑wide challenges such as Supercell’s recent struggles with its Squad Busters incubator.
Yet she maintains that a steady flow of new releases is essential to preserve the innovative DNA of each studio. In summary, Maria Redin’s roadmap for MTG involves aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration through district‑based branding, selective technology standardisation, and a forward‑looking embrace of AI—all aimed at doubling the company’s size within a few years while maintaining a vibrant, creative workforce capable of delivering both evergreen hits and exciting new experiences.