Modern Times Group to acquire Plarium for $620m

Modern Times Group is set to acquire Raid: Shadow Legends developer Plarium from previous owner Aristocrat Leisure Limited.

The agreement will set MTG back $620 million, $20 million of which would be deferred to 2026. The acquisition is set to close during Q1 2025.

MTG's acquisition of Plarium should result in total annual sales reaching over SEK 12 billion ($1.1 billion), the announcement said.

MTG's CEO Maria Redin commented: "[Plarium] brings an exciting and highly successful portfolio of live games spearheaded by Raid: Shadow Legends, an exceptional evergreen mid-core IP, to our line-up. The studio also has three additional strong live games, and an exciting new games pipeline in both the mid-core and the casual segments, which creates healthy optionality for future growth."

Plarium's strong UA and monetisation tools were also among the reasons cited for the acquisition.

Plarium was founded in 2009 and is mainly known for mobile RPG Raid: Shadow Legends. It was acquired by Aristocrat in 2017. According to the acquisition announcement, the developer generated $613 million in revenue for the year ended September 30, 2024, a 1.2% rise year-on-year.

Modern Times Group has historically had an aggressive M&A strategy, most recently acquiring AutoAttack Games via its wholly-owned studio Ninja Kiwi as well as Snowprint Studios.