In February of the previous year, Sweden’s 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, is only the opening act in a broader expansion plan, according to MTG’s president and chief executive, Maria Redin. Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the company’s vision, set after the Plarium acquisition, is to double its overall size once more.
“We set out the vision last year that post‑acquisition of Plarium we want to double yet again in size,” she explained. “And yes, we want to fuel and continue to drive organic growth, but in order to do that, we will need to do more acquisitions.” The timeline she proposes is aggressive: the goal is to achieve the doubling within roughly three to five years.
Redin noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to scale quickly, pointing to a 2021 ambition that resulted in a tripling of the business. The mobile gaming market, once characterized by double‑digit growth, has now settled into a single‑digit expansion phase as the sector matures. What was once a blue‑ocean of untapped users has become a crowded, competitive arena where growth often means capturing market share from rivals or absorbing them outright.
While buying companies is relatively straightforward, integrating them successfully is notoriously difficult. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of acquisitions that led to studio closures due to poor integration. MTG believes it has a formula for avoiding those pitfalls. Before the Plarium deal, the group already owned a portfolio of mobile studios such as 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 (midcore being games that sit between casual and hardcore experiences). The districts have recently been rebranded as Playsimple and Playamp, respectively. Playsimple, named after the Indian studio behind WordTrip, aggregates free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp houses the bulk of MTG’s portfolio—games that rely on in‑app purchases.
Redin says the rebranding is more than a cosmetic change; it is part of a larger effort to build “one of the leading gaming villages.” The term “village” is intentionally warm, meant to foster a sense of belonging among employees and to improve retention—a critical factor when a company is rapidly adding new studios. “I always say gaming is the best marriage between creativity and data‑driven decisions. People are one of our biggest assets, but you also need to create an environment for them to thrive,” Redin said. She emphasized that MTG’s acquisition strategy includes a commitment to keep founders and teams on board after a purchase, because the real growth story begins once those teams are integrated and empowered.
A key component of the integration plan is the standardisation of technology and tools across the group. Redin noted that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; a common platform can deliver efficiencies at scale. The push for standardisation began when she took the helm in 2020, but it was only after Plarium joined the family that MTG had sufficient scale to roll out the vision fully. She is careful to distinguish the needs of the two districts: Playsimple’s tech foundation will serve future casual acquisitions, while Playamp will adopt selected elements of Plarium’s technology suite, deployed selectively after a thorough internal assessment of where shared tools make sense.
Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page (PDP) data system have already been rolled out across MTG, with additional features being added to enhance studio performance. Redin explained that the goal is to focus resources where they generate the greatest return: “We want to make sure that we put our efforts where we get the biggest bang for our buck. We have some amazing game makers across the group, and with Playamp we want to super‑charge that with a tech suite they can leverage.” Artificial intelligence is another pillar of MTG’s future strategy.
Generative AI tools are already reshaping content creation at InnoGames, where AI has been used to produce assets for the mobile title Sunrise Village and is slated for broader adoption. Redin observes that AI is being woven into many parts of the production pipeline—A/B testing, graphics generation, quality assurance, and more.
Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being incorporated into the shared Plarium tech suite, allowing rapid diffusion of best practices. When asked whether AI will eventually replace human creativity, Redin responded cautiously.
She believes AI cannot yet replicate the imaginative spark that human talent brings, but she also warns that firms that ignore AI risk falling behind competitors. “If we don’t embrace AI, we will be slower than our competitors,” she said. “We keep the creativity, innovation, and vision of our team, but we can leverage completely new levels of technology next to it.” Financially, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue now stems from the Playamp division, while the casual side—currently represented by a single studio, Playsimple—contributes roughly 20 %.
Redin is eager to expand both sides, noting that the group would love to acquire additional studios similar to Snowprint and to grow the casual portfolio. She hinted at the possibility of adding a third “district” to the gaming village, perhaps centred around core capabilities such as marketing platforms or data analytics. Despite the market’s maturity, Redin remains confident about growth prospects. She points out that the top‑ten mobile games list changes little each year, underscoring the value of evergreen IPs like Raid: Shadow Legends, which she expects to have many more profitable years ahead.
Nevertheless, she stresses the importance of a continuous pipeline of new titles to keep the creative engine humming. MTG already has a new Plarium game slated for a soft launch early next year, and Redin acknowledges that launching successful new games is challenging but essential for long‑term vitality.
In summary, MTG’s strategy under Maria Redin blends aggressive acquisition, thoughtful integration, technology standardisation, AI adoption, and a balanced portfolio of proven evergreen titles and fresh projects. The aim is to double the company’s size within a few years while fostering a collaborative “gaming village” culture that retains talent and drives sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive mobile landscape.