In February of last year, Swedish mobile powerhouse Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the wildly popular hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. According to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive, that deal is only the opening move in a much larger strategic play. “We set the vision last year that, after bringing Plarium into the fold, we want to double our size again,” Redin told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We’ll continue to drive organic growth, but to hit that target we’ll need to make further acquisitions.” The timeline she cites is aggressive: MTG aims to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years. Redin notes the company has already demonstrated the ability to scale quickly—MTG pursued a similar ambition in 2021 and, in her words, “tripled” its size.
The mobile gaming landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. A few years ago, the sector was expanding at double‑digit rates; today growth has settled into single‑digit territory as the market matures.
What was once a blue ocean of untapped users has become a crowded, highly competitive arena where expansion often means taking market share from rivals—or acquiring those rivals outright. While buying studios is relatively straightforward, integrating them into a cohesive organization is notoriously difficult. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of failed mergers that resulted in studio closures.
MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap for integration. Before the Plarium transaction, 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”: a Casual District and a Midcore District—the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences.
Following the acquisition, the districts were rebranded as Playsimple (named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip) and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple now houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp focuses on games that generate revenue primarily through in‑app purchases, which make up the bulk of MTG’s earnings. Redin emphasizes that the rebranding is only the tip of the iceberg. Her goal is to create “one of the leading gaming villages,” a term she chose deliberately to evoke a sense of community that staff want to belong to.
Retaining talent and fostering a shared culture are essential when a company expands by snapping up numerous studios. "Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," she explains. "Our people are our greatest asset, but we also have to build 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 the business can scale.
The only way to make that happen is to create a workplace they enjoy." A major piece of the integration puzzle has been the standardisation of technology and tools across MTG. Redin says this effort began when she became CEO in 2020, but the scale required to roll it out fully only materialised after Plarium joined the group. By unifying certain platforms, MTG hopes to avoid the pitfalls seen elsewhere—such as Electronic Arts’ problematic push to force all studios onto the Frostbite engine, which caused significant friction on projects like Mass Effect. To that end, the company treats the two districts separately.
Playsimple’s tech stack will serve as the foundation for any future casual‑district acquisitions, while the Midcore side will adopt selected components of Plarium’s suite on a case‑by‑case basis. Redin notes that a thorough internal assessment identified where shared tools make sense and where they do not, ensuring that collaboration adds value rather than creating unnecessary overhead. Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page data system are already being deployed across MTG, with additional features and functionality being added to suit the broader portfolio.
Redin believes that this shared infrastructure will boost studio productivity and help the group get the biggest return on its investment in technology. Artificial intelligence is another area where MTG is pushing forward. InnoGames, for example, has been using AI‑generated content for its mobile title Sunrise Village for some time and plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its catalogue.
Redin says AI is becoming embedded in many parts of the production pipeline—A/B testing, graphics creation, quality assurance, and more. Successful AI tools from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite and rolled out company‑wide. "We want our studios to experiment within a common AI framework," she explains.
"When one team discovers a breakthrough, we can quickly disseminate that knowledge across the group." When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creators, Redin is cautious. "I don’t think AI will do everything we do. Creativity remains a uniquely human strength," she says.
"But if we ignore AI, we risk falling behind competitors who are leveraging it to accelerate development and improve player experiences. AI should augment, not replace, our talent." Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now comes from the Playamp division, with the remaining 20 % generated by Playsimple.
Redin is eager to broaden both sides of the business. She mentions that Snowprint was acquired a few years ago and that adding more studios of a similar profile would be “fantastic.” On the casual side, she envisions adding scale to Playsimple and even contemplating a third district that would build on the core capabilities—marketing platforms or data analytics—already in place.
Despite the market’s maturity, Redin believes there is still room for growth. The top‑ten mobile games list changes very little each year, reinforcing her belief in evergreen IPs.
While Raid : Shadow Legends has many more years of revenue potential, MTG also recognises the need for a fresh pipeline of titles. Plarium is preparing to soft‑launch a new game early next year, and Redin stresses that investing in new projects is essential to keep the creative DNA of each studio alive. She acknowledges industry headwinds: the western mobile market is perceived as “coasting,” with only a handful of new billion‑dollar titles emerging from the region in recent years. Nonetheless, Redin remains optimistic.
"We have three billion gamers worldwide, so the market is still compelling. Growth rates may be modest—low to mid single‑digit—but if we continue to nurture strong evergreen franchises and bring new games to market, we can still achieve meaningful expansion."