In February of the previous year, Sweden’s mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million acquisition 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 merely the opening move in a much larger plan. “We set the vision last year that after bringing Plarium into the fold we want to double the group again,” Redin told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We’ll keep pushing organic growth, but to do that we’ll need to make more strategic purchases.” The timeline she cites is aggressive: MTG aims to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years. Redin notes the company has already proven it can grow quickly—MTG set a similar target in 2021 and, in her words, “we think we tripled.” A few years ago the mobile sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but that momentum has tapered to single‑digit growth as the market matures.
What was once a blue ocean has turned a deep red, meaning any further expansion will likely involve capturing competitors’ market share—or outright acquiring those competitors. While buying studios is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in integrating them without the kind of missteps that have led to studio closures elsewhere in the industry.
Redin says MTG has a clear roadmap for that integration. Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile developers, including InnoGames (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”: the Casual District and the Midcore District (midcore being games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences). Those divisions 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 contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio—games that rely on in‑app purchases. The rebranding is more than a cosmetic change.
Redin says the goal is to create “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term “village” is intentional, meant to evoke a sense of community that encourages staff to stay and thrive. She emphasizes that talent is MTG’s biggest asset and that retaining founders and development teams after an acquisition is crucial for unlocking the true value of a deal. “To keep people, you have to build an environment they enjoy,” Redin explained.
“We buy companies because we want the founders and their teams to stay on board, because that’s when the exciting story really begins and you can scale the business.” Since the Plarium purchase, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its studios. Redin notes that not every component needs to be built from scratch for each company, and that the scale achieved with Plarium finally allowed the group to roll out a unified tech vision. She acknowledges past industry missteps—such as Electronic Arts’ forced adoption of the Frostbite engine, which caused friction for teams working on titles like Mass Effect—but stresses that MTG is tailoring its approach.
The Playsimple stack will serve future casual acquisitions, while the Midcore stack incorporates selected elements from Plarium’s toolkit, deployed selectively after a thorough internal assessment of where sharing makes sense. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page data system are now being used across the MTG ecosystem, with additional features being added to enhance their utility.
Redin says the aim is to maximise return on investment by giving all studios access to a robust, shared suite of tools that can accelerate development and improve quality. Artificial intelligence is also reshaping MTG’s workflow. InnoGames, for example, has been generating all content for its Sunrise Village mobile game using AI for some time and plans to broaden that usage. Redin observes that AI is being woven into many stages of production—A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and more.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite and rolled out group‑wide, always within a framework that defines acceptable uses and safeguards. When asked whether AI could eventually replace human creativity, Redin is cautious. She believes AI is a powerful accelerator but not a substitute for the imaginative spark that developers bring. “If we ignore AI we’ll fall behind competitors,” she says, “but we must keep the creativity, innovation, and vision of our people while leveraging the new technology.” She cites capacity shortfalls that AI can help alleviate, such as coding, art production, and complex logic.
Revenue-wise, about 80 % of MTG’s earnings now come from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple. Redin is eager to expand both sides, noting that the group bought Snowprint a few years ago and would welcome additional studios of that caliber. She also hints at the possibility of a third “district” that would build on the core capabilities of the existing two, perhaps focusing on marketing platforms or data‑driven services. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games list remains relatively stable, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs.
While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of revenue potential, the company also recognises the need for a fresh pipeline. Plarium is preparing a new title for a soft launch early next year, and Redin stresses that nurturing new projects is essential to retain the creative DNA of each studio. Industry observers, such as Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen, warn that Western mobile developers are “coasting,” with only two of the 22 billion‑dollar titles since 2020 originating from the West.
Yet even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have faced setbacks, like the recent shutdown of Squad Busters. Redin acknowledges the difficulty of launching and scaling new games but insists that without new titles the ecosystem would lose its innovative edge. Looking ahead, Redin sees a market of three billion gamers that remains compelling, even if hyper‑growth has given way to low‑single‑digit or mid‑single‑digit expansion.
She concludes that sustained growth will require a dual strategy: continue to capitalise on strong evergreen franchises while also bringing fresh experiences to players, supported by a unified tech backbone and an AI‑enhanced development pipeline.