In February of last year, Swedish mobile entertainment leader Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. According to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive, that deal was only the opening move in a broader expansion play.
Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s ambition, set after the Plarium acquisition, is to double its overall size once more. “We laid out the vision last year that, after bringing Plarium into the fold, we want to double again,” she explained.
“Organic growth will still be a key driver, but to achieve that scale we’ll need to pursue additional acquisitions.” The timeline she cites is aggressive: roughly three to five years to hit the doubling target. MTG has already demonstrated an ability to move quickly – Redin noted that the firm set a similar goal in 2021 and ended up tripling its size in the ensuing period. The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. What was once a rapidly expanding, double‑digit growth market has settled into single‑digit expansion, signalling a maturing sector.
The “blue ocean” of untapped users has turned “red,” meaning that future growth will likely come from taking market share from rivals or absorbing them entirely. Acquiring companies is the easier half of the equation; integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult. The industry is littered with stories of studios that were bought only to be shut down after a botched merger.
MTG, however, believes it has a clear integration roadmap. Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, including InnoGames (creator of 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. The recent rebranding renamed these districts Playsimple and Playamp.
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 represent the bulk of MTG’s earnings. Redin says the rebranding is more than cosmetic; it is part of a vision to create a “leading gaming village.” The phrasing is intentional, aiming to foster a sense of community that encourages staff to stay and thrive. “Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making,” she said. “People are our greatest asset, but they need an environment where they can flourish.
When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to remain on board, because that’s when the real story begins – scaling the business together.” A key pillar of the integration plan is the standardisation of technology and tools across MTG’s studios. Redin has pursued this goal since becoming CEO in 2020, but she believes the Plarium acquisition gave the group sufficient scale to roll it out fully.
The approach is pragmatic: not every tool needs to be rebuilt for each studio. However, she is careful to differentiate the needs of the two districts. Playsimple’s tech stack will serve as the foundation for future casual acquisitions, while the Midcore (Playamp) side will selectively adopt components of Plarium’s technology suite, after a thorough internal assessment of where sharing tools makes sense. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page data system are already being deployed across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance functionality.
Redin emphasises that the aim is to invest effort where it yields the greatest return, leveraging the strong development talent already present in the group and amplifying it with a unified tech suite. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another area of rapid development within MTG.
InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and is exploring broader AI integration across its portfolio. Redin notes that AI is being woven into many production pipelines – 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 stack. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creators, Redin cautions against such a deterministic view.
She believes creativity remains uniquely human and that AI should be seen as a catalyst rather than a replacement. “If we ignore AI, we risk falling behind competitors,” she said. “But we also need to preserve the innovative spirit of our teams.
AI can help us overcome capacity constraints in coding, art, and logic, allowing us to deliver high‑quality games faster.” Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s income now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She mentions the earlier acquisition of Snowprint and expresses a desire to replicate that success with additional studios worldwide. While the casual side currently consists of a single studio (Playsimple), she hints at the possibility of adding a third “district” in the future, built around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics.
Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games remain relatively stable year over year, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs. The company continues to invest heavily in proven titles like Raid, while also nurturing a pipeline of new games. Plarium, for instance, is preparing to soft‑launch a fresh title early next year.
The broader industry context is sobering. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen has warned that Western mobile developers are “coasting,” with only two of the 22 games that have crossed $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originating from the West.
Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have faced setbacks, such as the recent shutdown of Squad Busters. Redin acknowledges the difficulty of creating and scaling hit games but argues that abandoning new‑title development would erode the creative DNA of MTG’s studios. “Investing in fresh games keeps our teams passionate and innovative,” she said. Looking ahead, Redin sees a market still ripe with opportunity, albeit with lower growth rates than the hyper‑growth era of the past.
With roughly three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains compelling, even as it competes for attention against streaming services and social media. She predicts growth will hover in the low‑ to mid‑single‑digit range, and that surpassing that baseline will require a dual strategy: bolstering evergreen franchises while continuously bringing new experiences to market.