In February of the previous 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. That deal, however, appears to be only the opening move in a broader expansion play. "Last year we set a vision that, following the Plarium acquisition, we want to double our size once more," MTG’s president and chief executive Maria Redin told GamesIndustry.biz.
"We will continue to drive organic growth, but to reach that ambition we’ll need to pursue additional acquisitions." Redin’s timetable is aggressive: she targets a three‑to‑five‑year horizon to achieve the doubling. The Swedish group already has a track record of rapid scaling – the company’s 2021 ambition to grow was met, she notes, with a three‑fold increase. A few years ago the mobile sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but that momentum has tapered to single‑digit growth, reflecting a market that is maturing quickly.
What once resembled a blue ocean now looks more like a crowded, competitive arena where growth often means taking market share from rivals or absorbing them outright. Acquiring studios is the easy part; the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly. The gaming industry is littered with cautionary tales of acquisitions that resulted in cultural clashes, duplicated technology stacks, and ultimately studio closures.
MTG, however, believes it has a clear integration blueprint. Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned several mobile developers, 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 purely casual experiences and hardcore titles.
The districts have now been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp respectively. Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, focuses on free‑to‑play, ad‑supported games, while Playamp houses the in‑app‑purchase‑driven titles that make up the bulk of MTG’s portfolio. The rebranding is only the surface of a deeper cultural shift. Redin says the goal is to create "one of the leading gaming villages," a phrase chosen deliberately to convey a sense of community and belonging.
Retaining talent and fostering a collaborative environment are top priorities for a company that has been on a buying spree. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin explains. "People are our greatest asset, but they need an environment where they can thrive.
When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board because the real story begins after the deal, as we scale the business together. The only way to ensure they stay is to build a workplace they enjoy." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its portfolio. Redin notes that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; a common platform can drive efficiencies.
This standardisation effort began when she took the helm in 2020, but only after Plarium joined did the group have sufficient scale to roll it out fully. The pitfalls of forced tech uniformity are well known.
Electronic Arts, for example, ran into major difficulties when it required all its studios to adopt the Frostbite engine, causing delays on projects like Mass Effect. Redin is careful to treat the two districts separately, recognising that the tools needed for ad‑driven casual games differ from those required for midcore titles with complex monetisation. "Playsimple’s tech stack will become the foundation for any future casual‑district acquisitions," she says.
"For the midcore side we have selected parts of Plarium’s suite to deploy group‑wide, but we are doing it selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio. We performed a thorough internal assessment to decide where sharing tools makes sense and where it does not." Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system are already being used across MTG, and Redin adds that the company is continuously enhancing these platforms with new features.
The aim is to boost the productivity of all studios, concentrating resources where they generate the greatest return. Generative AI is another pillar of MTG’s modernization strategy. InnoGames, for instance, has been generating content for its mobile title Sunrise Village with AI for some time and plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin observes that AI is becoming embedded in many mobile development pipelines.
"Most of the industry is having the same conversations about how to incorporate new technology into production," she says. "Generative AI is far more powerful than any tool we’ve had before. The challenge is finding the right balance – where do we change the workflow, and where do we keep the existing process? Ultimately, AI should help us make games more relevant to players and accelerate the delivery of high‑quality titles." MTG is adding AI layers to 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 broader Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices. "We allow our studios to experiment within the boundaries of our overall AI framework," Redin explains. "When a team develops something that works well, we can quickly roll it out across the company." When asked whether AI has become a prerequisite for competing in the fast‑moving mobile market, Redin cautions against overstatement. "I often get asked if gaming AI will eventually replace human creators.
I don’t think that’s the case. Creativity remains a uniquely human strength. However, if we ignore AI we risk falling behind competitors.
AI should augment, not replace, the talent we have." She points out that AI can address capacity shortfalls in areas such as coding, art, and complex logic, effectively supercharging the development pipeline while preserving the creative vision of the teams. 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 the studio roster further.
"We acquired Snowprint a few years ago; finding five more studios of that caliber would be fantastic. On the casual side we’d also like to increase scale," she says.
The company is already juggling the growth of Playamp and Playsimple while contemplating a potential third district within the "gaming village" concept. The shape of this new district is still undefined, but Redin suggests it will centre on the core capabilities MTG already possesses – likely leveraging existing marketing platforms or data assets.
From a product perspective, the mobile top‑ten landscape remains relatively static. "Every year we run the same analysis and see that the top games stay consistent," Redin observes. MTG’s long‑term thesis has always been a belief in evergreen intellectual properties. While Raid : Shadow Legends still has many years of revenue potential, the company also recognises the need for a fresh pipeline of titles.
Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen has warned that the Western mobile market is "coasting," noting that only two of the 22 mobile games that have surpassed $1 billion in revenue since 2020 originated in the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have faced setbacks, with projects like Squad Busters being shut down after launch. Redin acknowledges the difficulty of creating and scaling new hits.
"Plarium has a new title slated for a soft launch early next year," she says. "If we stopped investing in new games, we would erode the creative DNA of our studios. Fresh ideas keep the passion alive." Looking at the broader market, Redin remains optimistic despite the sector’s maturation.
"There are three billion gamers worldwide – it’s a compelling market," she says. "We compete for attention with streaming services and social media, but I still believe there is growth potential.
We won’t see the hyper‑growth of the past; we’re looking at low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit expansion. To exceed that, we must continue to nurture strong evergreen IPs while also bringing new experiences to players."