In February of last year, the Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million acquisition of Plarium, the developer behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. According to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive officer, that deal was only the opening move in a much larger game plan. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the vision set out after the Plarium purchase is to "double the company’s size again" – and that this ambition will be pursued through a combination of organic growth and further strategic acquisitions. She estimates that the doubling could be achieved within a three‑to‑five‑year horizon, a timeline that mirrors a similar target the group set in 2021, when MTG’s revenue more than tripled.
The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. What was once a fast‑growing, double‑digit expansion market has settled into single‑digit growth as the sector matures. The blue‑ocean of untapped users has turned a deep shade of red, meaning that future expansion will largely depend on capturing market share from rivals or, more aggressively, absorbing them outright.
Acquiring studios is the easy half of the equation; integrating them successfully is the real challenge. The 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 roadmap for integration.
Before buying Plarium, 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 grouped into two “districts”: the Casual District for lighter, ad‑supported games, and the Midcore District for titles that sit between casual and hardcore, typically monetised through in‑app purchases (IAPs).
Following the Plarium deal, the districts were rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp respectively. Playsimple now houses the ad‑driven free‑to‑play titles, while Playamp contains the IAP‑focused portfolio that makes up the bulk of MTG’s revenue. Redin says the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change – it is part of a broader ambition to create "one of the leading gaming villages." The terminology is intentional: a village evokes community, belonging and shared purpose, which are crucial for retaining talent after rapid expansion.
"People are our biggest asset," Redin explained, "and we need an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio we want the founders and their teams to stay on board, because that’s when the real story begins and we can scale the business together. The only way to make that happen is to build a place they enjoy working in." Standardising technology across the group is another pillar of MTG’s integration strategy.
Since Redin took the helm in 2020, the company has pursued a unified tech stack, but the scale required to roll it out effectively only materialised after Plarium joined the fold. The goal is not to force every studio to use the same tools, but to create a common foundation where it makes sense, while preserving the specialised pipelines each district needs. For Playsimple, the tech stack will serve as the baseline for future casual acquisitions. In the Midcore arena, MTG has selected several components from Plarium’s suite – such as the GoGame marketing platform and a product‑detail‑page data system – and is deploying them selectively after a thorough internal audit.
Redin stressed that the rollout is being managed carefully to ensure the end result benefits every studio, rather than imposing a one‑size‑fits‑all solution. AI is also reshaping MTG’s development workflow.
InnoGames, for example, has been using generative AI to produce all of the content for its mobile title Sunrise Village, and the studio plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its pipeline. Redin observes that this mirrors a broader industry trend: AI tools are being woven into everything from A/B testing and graphic generation to quality assurance and analytics.
"Generative AI is far more powerful than any tool we’ve had before," she said, adding that the challenge lies in finding the right balance – where AI augments human creativity without replacing it. The company’s approach is to layer AI capabilities onto existing tools, allowing studios to experiment within a shared framework of best practices.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are then fed back into the Plarium tech suite for wider adoption, creating a feedback loop that accelerates innovation across the group. When asked whether AI will eventually make human developers obsolete, Redin was cautious. She believes creativity and vision remain uniquely human traits, but acknowledges that ignoring AI would leave MTG trailing its competitors.
"If we don’t embrace AI, we’ll be slower," she warned, noting that AI can help bridge capacity gaps in coding, art and complex logic. Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, while Playsimple contributes roughly 20 %. Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business.
She cited the recent acquisition of Snowprint and expressed interest in finding “five more Snowprints” worldwide. On the casual front, she hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the gaming village, one that would likely centre on the group’s core marketing and data capabilities. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin remains optimistic about growth opportunities. The top‑ten mobile games list changes little each year, underscoring the durability of evergreen IPs.
MTG’s strategy, therefore, balances investment in proven titles like Raid with a pipeline of new games to keep the creative engine humming. Plarium, for instance, is preparing to soft‑launch a fresh title early next year.
Industry observers such as Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen have warned that Western mobile developers are “coasting,” pointing out that only two of the 22 games that have generated over $1 billion since 2020 originated in the West. Yet Redin argues that a steady flow of new titles is essential to preserve the DNA of each studio and maintain a culture of innovation. Looking ahead, Redin acknowledges that the era of hyper‑growth is likely over. The mobile market now delivers low‑single‑digit to mid‑single‑digit growth, depending on the data source.
To exceed that baseline, MTG must continue to nurture its evergreen franchises while also bringing fresh experiences to market. In her view, the combination of a unified tech foundation, thoughtful AI integration, and a clear focus on talent retention positions MTG to thrive in a competitive, yet still compelling, gaming ecosystem.