In February of last year, Sweden’s 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 is only the opening move of a much larger expansion plan. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company set a vision after the Plarium acquisition to double its overall size again – and that ambition is not a distant dream but a target to be hit within roughly three to five years.
She noted that MTG had already pursued a similar goal in 2021, during which the group more than tripled its scale. The current push reflects a broader industry reality: mobile gaming, once characterised by double‑digit growth, has settled into single‑digit expansion as the market matures. The once‑vast blue ocean has turned a deep red, meaning growth now largely depends on taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. While buying studios is relatively straightforward, integrating them is notoriously difficult.
The gaming sector is littered with stories of acquisitions that resulted in studio closures because the merging entities failed to align cultures, processes, or technology. MTG, however, believes it has a roadmap to avoid those pitfalls. Before the Plarium deal, 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 split into two organisational “districts”: a Casual District and a Midcore District – the latter covering games that sit between purely casual and hardcore experiences. The districts have since been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the majority of MTG’s portfolio, which relies on in‑app purchases (IAPs). Redin says the rebranding is only the surface of a deeper cultural shift.
She wants MTG to become “one of the leading gaming villages,” a phrase chosen to evoke a sense of community that employees want to belong to. Retaining talent is critical for a company that has been on an acquisition binge. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decisions," she explains. "People are our biggest asset, but we must create an environment where they can thrive.
When we acquire a studio, we intend for the founders and teams to stay on board, because that is when the real story begins – scaling the business together. The only way to make that happen is to build a workplace they enjoy." A major part of the integration effort involves standardising technology and tools across the group.
Redin has pursued this goal since becoming CEO in 2020, but she says Plarium’s size finally gave MTG the scale needed to roll the vision out fully. She is careful to note that the tech stack for Playsimple differs substantially from that required by Playamp, so the two divisions are being treated separately. "Playsimple’s tech foundation will become the baseline for any future casual‑district acquisitions," Redin explains.
"For the midcore side, we have selected components of Plarium’s suite to deploy group‑wide, but we are doing so selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio. We conducted a thorough internal assessment to determine where sharing tools makes sense and where it does not." Key Plarium platforms – the GoGame marketing system and a product‑detail‑page (PDP) data platform – are already being used across MTG, with additional features being added. The aim is to boost the output of all studios by concentrating effort where it yields the greatest return.
"We have fantastic game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge them with a tech suite they can leverage, elevating everything that’s already been done," Redin says. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is another lever MTG is pulling. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village and plans to broaden AI‑driven creation across its catalogue. Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in production pipelines throughout the mobile sector.
She describes generative AI as "significantly more powerful than any tool we’ve had before" and stresses the need to strike a balance: integrate AI where it adds value without disrupting workflows that already work well. The company is layering AI onto existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and analytics. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite for broader use. "We allow studios to experiment within our overarching AI framework, share learnings, and quickly roll out breakthroughs across the group," Redin notes.
When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creators, Redin is cautious. She believes creativity and imagination remain uniquely human traits that AI cannot fully replicate. However, she warns that ignoring AI would leave MTG lagging behind competitors. "If we don’t embrace AI, we’ll be slower than the market.
AI can help us overcome capacity shortfalls in coding, art, and complex logic, supercharging our ability to deliver amazing games faster and better," she says. Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the casual side (Playsimple) contributing roughly 20 %. Redin is eager to grow both sides, noting that Snowprint was acquired a few years ago and that adding more studios of similar calibre would be ideal. She also hints at a possible third district in the future, which would likely centre on the core capabilities MTG already possesses – marketing platforms and data infrastructure.
Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes the top‑ten mobile games remain relatively stable year after year, reinforcing MTG’s long‑standing belief in evergreen intellectual property. While Raid: Shadow Legends still has many years of life ahead, the company continues to invest in new titles to keep the pipeline fresh. She acknowledges the difficulty of launching successful new games, citing Supercell’s recent struggles with its Squad Busters incubator, but stresses that without new IPs the creative DNA of studios would wither.
Looking ahead, Redin sees a market still worth pursuing. With three billion gamers worldwide, the sector remains compelling, even as it competes for attention with streaming services and social media. Growth rates may now be modest – low to mid single‑digit percentages – but MTG intends to exceed those averages by nurturing its evergreen franchises and introducing new experiences.
In summary, Maria Redin’s roadmap for MTG combines aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, unified technology, AI‑enhanced production, and a balanced focus on both proven evergreen titles and fresh game development. The goal is to double the company’s size within a few years while fostering a collaborative "gaming village" where talent thrives and innovation flourishes.