In February of last year, Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. That deal, however, appears to be only the opening move in a broader expansion play. "Last year we set a vision that, after bringing Plarium into the fold, we want to double our size again," MTG’s president and chief executive officer Maria Redin told GamesIndustry.biz. "We’ll keep pushing organic growth, but to do that we’ll need to make additional acquisitions." Redin’s timetable for this doubling is aggressive: she targets a three‑to‑five‑year horizon.
The ambition is not new; MTG pursued a similar goal in 2021 and, according to Redin, succeeded in tripling its scale. A few years ago the mobile sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but growth has since settled into single‑digit territory, reflecting a maturing market. What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped users has turned into a crowded, competitive arena where any further expansion usually means taking market share from rivals—or absorbing them outright. Acquiring companies is the easy part; the real challenge lies in integration.
The gaming industry is littered with cautionary tales of poorly merged studios that ultimately shuttered. MTG, however, believes it has a roadmap for smooth consolidation. Before the Plarium deal, MTG already owned a portfolio of mobile studios, 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). The districts 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 goes beyond a fresh label.
Redin says the goal is to create "one of the leading gaming villages." The phrasing is intentional; she wants an environment that people are eager to join and stay in. Retaining talent and fostering a sense of community is critical for a company that has been on an acquisition binge. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin explains.
"People are our biggest asset, but we also need to give them a space where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio we want the founders and their teams to remain post‑deal, because that’s when the real story begins and we can scale the business. The only way to make that happen is to build a workplace they love." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its studios.
Redin notes that not every piece of software needs to be built from scratch for each studio. The push for a unified tech stack began when she took the helm in 2020, but the Plarium acquisition gave MTG the scale required to roll the vision out fully. Standardisation is a double‑edged sword. Electronic Arts famously forced its studios to adopt the proprietary Frostbite engine, creating headaches for teams working on titles like Mass Effect.
Redin is aware that the needs of Playsimple differ dramatically from those of Playamp, and the two divisions are being treated separately. "Playsimple’s tech stack will become the foundation for any future casual‑district studio we bring in," she says. "For the midcore side we have selected parts of Plarium’s technology to use group‑wide, but we are deploying it selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio.
We conducted a thorough internal assessment to decide where collaboration on tools makes sense and where it does not." Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and its product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being shared across MTG, and Redin adds that the company is extending their functionality. The aim is to boost productivity across the board. "We want to focus our effort where we get the biggest bang for our buck," she says.
"We have fantastic game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge them with a tech suite that elevates everything they already do." Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s strategy. Generative AI is reshaping mobile game development, a trend exemplified by InnoGames, which has been using AI‑generated content for its Sunrise Village title and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its portfolio.
Redin observes that most industry peers are having similar conversations about embedding AI into production pipelines. "Generative AI is far more powerful than any tool we’ve had before," she says. "The challenge is finding the right balance – where do we change the workflow, where do we keep it, and where can AI add the most value? Ultimately it’s about using new tech to make our games more relevant to players and, ideally, to bring new titles to market faster and better." MTG is layering AI onto existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphics generation, quality assurance and more.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite for broader rollout. Redin stresses a flexible approach: "We let studios experiment as long as they stay within our overarching AI framework.
When one team develops a breakthrough, we can quickly propagate it across the company." When asked whether AI is now a prerequisite for competing in the hyper‑competitive mobile space, Redin cautions against fatalism. "I often hear the question, will gaming AI replace everything we do? I don’t think so.
Creativity is still a uniquely human trait," she replies. "But if we ignore AI we will fall behind competitors. Embracing AI lets us keep our creative vision while leveraging new levels of technology.
It can fill capacity gaps in coding, art and advanced logic, allowing us to maintain the high quality of our games." Currently about 80 % of MTG’s revenue comes from the Playamp division, and Redin is eager to grow the studio roster. "We bought Snowprint a few years ago; finding five more studios like Snowprint would be fantastic. On the casual side we’d also like to add scale," she says. At present Playsimple is the sole casual studio, yet it still contributes roughly 20 % of revenue.
Redin hints at a possible third district within the "gaming village" concept, though details are still fluid. The new district would likely revolve around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics, extending the existing model. From a product perspective, the outlook remains familiar.
The top‑ten mobile games list changes little year over year. "Our analysis shows the same evergreen titles dominate," Redin notes, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen IPs.
While Raid: Shadow Legends has many years left, the company also recognises the need for a fresh pipeline. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen has warned that the Western mobile market is "coasting," with only two of the 22 billion‑dollar titles since 2020 originating in the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled; the Squad Busters project was shuttered after a brief 2024 launch. Redin acknowledges the difficulty: "It’s hard to build a hit and scale it, but abandoning new‑game investment would erode the creative DNA of our studios." Looking at the macro environment, Redin sees continued opportunity despite a shift from hyper‑growth to modest single‑digit expansion.
"There are three billion gamers worldwide, so the market is still compelling," she says. "Growth will be slower, but by nurturing strong evergreen IPs and bringing new games to market we can exceed the baseline." In summary, MTG’s roadmap combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, unified technology, AI‑enhanced production, and a balanced portfolio of proven evergreen titles and new‑game development. Redin believes this multifaceted approach will enable the company to double its size within the next few years while maintaining the creative spirit that fuels its success.