We delivered accelerated organic growth of 15% year over year in Q3 and 10% for the first nine months (9M) of 2025 with total revenues up 126% and 107% year over year in constant currencies for the two respective periods. Our organic growth in Q3 was driven by a very active and successful schedule of in-game content and events. RAID: Shadow Legends also had a very strong quarter of high single-digit growth. User acquisition spend (UA) in our original studios was up by 37% year over year in constant currencies in Q3 and 38% for the 9M period, as we continued to scale new games and drive momentum going into Q4. Our total UA spend represented 37% of our total revenues in both Q3 and for the 9M period. Total adjusted EBITDA was up by 73% year over year in Q3 and by 59% for the 9M period, with operating margins of 23% for both periods. We are therefore well-positioned to deliver on our raised 2025 outlook for organic sales growth of 7-9%, total group revenues of SEK 11.4-11.7 billion and a group operating margin of 21-24%.
Financial highlights Q3
- Net sales increased by 108% to SEK 2,987 (1,438) million year over year and up 126% in constant currencies despite negative currency impact of -19%. Organic year over year growth was 15%
- UA spend of SEK 1,112 (548) million corresponding to 37% (38%) of revenues, and up 37% year over year for our original studios in constant currencies
- Adjusted EBITDA up by 73% year over year to SEK 675 (390) million with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 23% (27%). Adjustments of SEK 48 (25) million for M&A transaction costs and revaluation of put/call options, and SEK 37 (2) million for non-recurring bonus structures
- Reported EBITDA of SEK 590 (363) million and EBIT of SEK 232 (213) million impacted by increased amortization levels of intangible assets arising from the acquisition of Plarium, primarily related to RAID: Shadow Legends
- Net financial items of SEK -96 (50) million, driven by net interest amounted to SEK -82 (28) million and put/call options
- Tax amounted to SEK -97 (-89) million
- Total net income of 39 (174) million
- Cash flow from operations of SEK 382 (347) million and unlevered cash conversion of 60%
- Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period amounted to SEK 1,221 (3,197) million with a net financial debt of SEK 3,095 (-3,038) million
Financial highlights nine months
- Net sales increased by 96% to SEK 8,456 (4,322) million and up 107% in constant currencies. Organic year over year growth of 10%
- UA spend of SEK 3,125 (1,545) million corresponding to 37% (36%) of revenues
- Adjusted EBITDA of SEK 1,931 (1,211) million with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 23% (28%)
- Reported EBITDA of SEK 1,780 (1,159) million and EBIT of SEK 745 (731) million
- Net financial items of SEK -312 (-393) million, of which SEK -175 (94) was net interest
- Total net income of SEK 43 (32) million and total basic earnings per share of SEK 0.36 (0.27)
- Cash flow from operations of SEK 884 (1,014) million and unlevered cash conversion of 46% for the 12-month period ended 30 September 2025
Financial overview
(SEKm) | Q3 | Q3 | 9M | 9M | FY |
Net sales | 2,987 | 1,438 | 8,456 | 4,322 | 6,015 |
EBIT¹ | 232 | 213 | 745 | 731 | 901 |
EBITDA¹ | 590 | 363 | 1,780 | 1,159 | 1,476 |
Adjusted EBITDA | 675 | 390 | 1,931 | 1,211 | 1,666 |
Net income | 39 | 174 | 43 | 32 | -210 |
Cash flow from operations | 382 | 347 | 884 | 1,014 | 1,340 |
Basic earnings per share (SEK) | 0.33 | 1.45 | 0.36 | 0.27 | -1.74 |
Diluted earnings per share (SEK) | 0.33 | 1.45 | 0.36 | 0.26 | -1.74 |
Growth | |||||
Sales growth, % | 108% | -4% | 96% | 1% | 3% |
FX Impact | -19% | -2% | -12% | 0% | 0% |
Sales growth at constant FX | 126% | -2% | 107% | 2% | 3% |
of which organic growth | 15% | -9% | 10% | -4% | -1% |
1 Reallocation of SEK 5 million put call option in Q3 2024 between operating profit and financial net
President & CEO's comments
Outstanding Q3 with exceptional organic growth
I am very happy to deliver a strong Q3 with outstanding organic growth on the back of a very active, and successful, in-game event and content schedule, combined with strong performance from RAID: Shadow Legends. It is encouraging to see our organic growth coming from both recently launched new games and rapidly scaling games across our casual and midcore portfolios, as well as some of our largest established franchises.
We have continued to expand our core games with key new features, while maintaining high volumes of live-ops combined with disciplined and scaled marketing. This was further supported by the very strong momentum we have been building in our original studios for the last five quarters. This enabled us to drive 15% organic year over year growth in Q3 and 10% for the first nine months of the year. We did this while maintaining our well-established focus on marketing discipline and cost control, enabling us to report operating margins of 23% in Q3 and 23% for the first nine months.
Our organic growth continued to accelerate in Q3, which emphasizes the quality we have across our portfolio. On the casual side, PlaySimple delivered another quarter of double-digit growth. This was primarily driven by us finally being able to start fully scaling some of the new Word and adjacent Puzzle games that have previously been in early launch and finding more opportunities to scale our established word games, which supported our year over year growth. Thanks to this we have continued to increase our overall share of the extremely competitive causal games market, and I am very proud of the work our teams continue to deliver.
Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus delivered another very strong quarter of double-digit growth. The game delivered record monthly revenue in September, thanks to a very successful three-year anniversary event combined with expanded content.
F1 Clash had another stellar quarter, generating strong year over year growth on the back of the successful season reset in Q2, which expanded the game's content and significantly improved player experience. This was further supported by easier comparative numbers for the game in Q3 last year.
Heroes of History also continued to grow, driven by new in-game content including a highly successful one-year anniversary event and multiple in-game seasons.
RAID: Shadow Legends delivered a very strong Q3 driven by successful live-ops and the launch of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IP tie-in. This latest IP partnership follows a number of very successful IP initiatives done over the last year, continuing to showcase the longevity and ongoing future potential of RAID.
On a more general note, some of the ongoing changes to the digital competitive regulatory landscape in the US are providing our studios with opportunities to increase their focus on DTC revenues. This is an important part of our business and several of our games are today working on expanding the DTC offering to our players.
Solid margins and optimized UA spend going into the end-of-year period
We invested a total of SEK 1,112 million in user acquisition (UA) in Q3 and SEK 3,125 million in the first nine months of the year, corresponding to 37% of our total revenues for both periods. UA spend for our original studios was up by 37% year over year in Q3 in constant currencies, and up slightly from Q2 this year.
We continued to maintain our proven UA discipline throughout Q3, focusing our marketing to areas where we saw the highest return. The year over year increase in organic UA spend was driven by a mix of investment in new fast scaling casual games, the racing mainstay F1 Clash, which continued to perform very strongly and Heroes of History, which was launched in Q3 last year.
Our continued marketing investments in Q4 are setting the foundation for a successful 2026. As I have written in prior quarters of 2025, given the typically higher marketing costs in the key year-end period and our strong pace of UA scaling in the first nine months of the year, we will continue to invest in our games where we see opportunities in Q4. We will, however, do so in a disciplined, balanced manner to optimize our UA spend.
We reported adjusted EBITDA of SEK 675 million in Q3 and SEK 1,931 million for the first nine months of the year. Our operating margins levels of 23% in Q3 and 23% for the nine-month period once again primarily reflected our increased levels of organic UA spend.
We reported unlevered cash conversion of 60% in Q3 and 46% for the 12-month period ended 30 September 2025. The lower cash conversion levels for the rolling 12-month period mainly reflected recent higher M&A costs and withholding tax payments in both Q2 and Q1.
Evolving our operating model
On 9th of October we had the pleasure to host a Capital Markets Day in Stockholm. During the day, we talked about how we are transforming MTG to create a better, faster and more agile gaming leader, including moving to a new structure with two Gaming Districts from the beginning of 2026.
The purpose of our upcoming District model is to ensure that we can enable our current, and any future, studios, to make, scale and run great games. We will do this by preserving the creative integrity and cultures of our studios, while offering them the centralized tools, tech and infrastructure needed to drive growth.
On the 9th of October we also announced a transformation program for our Midcore portfolio. This is a crucial part of the upcoming implementation of our Midcore District from the start of 2026. The purpose of this transformation is to create strong, effective and efficient central services, marrying the best of the tools and tech we have across the old MTG and Plarium, and future-proofing our business. This transformation is also expected to result in efficiency related savings for the group in excess of USD 20 million on an annualized run-rate basis by the end of 2026, coming from a combination of measures across headcount, technology, outsourcing, and facilities.
Like everything we do, our transformation work is based on close and honest dialog across our organization. Our goal is to continue building a Gaming Village that respects and protects the unique cultures and talent we have in our studios, while providing them with the tools they need to succeed and grow. We need to make tough choices along the way, but our ambition is, as always, to come out stronger on the other side of these changes - for our people, our players and our shareholders.
Evaluating structural opportunities for the Casual District
Our Casual District will start as a party of one. Our ambition is to grow this part of our group over time so that we can leverage the impressive knowledge, technology and experience that we have in the PlaySimple team.
We will accomplish this both through organic initiatives and accretive M&A. To potentially accelerate these ambitions, we announced that we are conducting an IPO preparedness study for PlaySimple. The outcome of this study will help us evaluate our options in 2026, and we will come back in due course once the study is concluded. It's important to note that we have no plans to move below a majority ownership position in PlaySimple.
New medium-term goals
We have a clear strategy in place to drive sustainable growth. The strength, longevity and predictability of our evergreen titles deliver sustainable cash flows. This fuels our pipeline of new games in development as and enables the rapid scaling of recently launched titles - our rising stars. This growth flywheel, combined with our transformation initiatives, positions us well to continue delivering profitable growth and strong cash flows, and to create value over the medium and long term.
We expect MTG to deliver annual gross revenue growth of 3-7% and to increase group adjusted EBITDA margin to over 24% over the next medium-term period. We also expect to deliver unlevered steady state cash conversion of over 60% over the medium-term.
I am proud to see how far we have come since we distributed our broadcasting assets in 2019. We have transformed MTG again and again, acquiring exceptional gaming studios and divesting ESL Gaming. Today, we are the largest listed mobile-first gaming group in Europe. We have some of the best people in the industry in our Gaming Village, and the right games, tech, tools and scale to continue evolving MTG over the years to come. Thank you for being on this journey with us, and I look forward to sharing more news when the time is right.
Maria Redin
Group President & CEO, Modern Times Group MTG AB
Updated 2025 outlook
MTG's performance positions the group well to deliver on its updated full year outlook which was presented at the Capital Markets Day on the 9th of October.
MTG raised organic revenue growth guidance to 7-9% from 3-7% and reiterated our original guidance for a group adjusted EBITDA operating margin of 21-24%.
MTG also expanded outlook to include total full year revenues, which we expect to be between SEK 11.4-11.7 billion, reflecting the consolidation of Plarium from February this year.
Shareholder information
MTG's Annual General Meeting 2026
The Annual General Meeting will be held on 21 May 2026 in Stockholm. Shareholders wishing to have matters considered at the Annual General Meeting should submit their proposals in writing either by post to the "Company Secretary", Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ), Annual General Meeting, P.O. Box 2094, SE-103 13 Stockholm, Sweden or by email to agm@mtg.com at least seven weeks before the Annual General Meeting in order for the proposal to be included in the notice to the meeting. Further details on how and when to register will be published in advance of the meeting.
Nomination Committee ahead of the 2026 Annual General Meeting
In accordance with the resolution by the Annual General Meeting of MTG shareholders regarding the procedure for the Nomination Committee, a Nomination Committee has been convened to prepare proposals for the 2026 Annual General Meeting.
The Nomination Committee comprises:
- Christian Rauda, appointed by EHM Holding GmbH
- Klaus Roehrig, appointed by Active Ownership Corporation
- Malin Björkmo, appointed by Handelsbanken Fonder AB and
- Simon Duffy, the Chairman of the Board
In line with past practice, the members of the Committee have appointed Christian Rauda, representing the largest shareholder on the last business day of August 2025, as the Committee Chairman.
Please see the following section on MTG.com for information about the work of the Nomination Committee: https://www.mtg.com/governance/nomination-committee/
Shareholders wishing to propose candidates for election to the MTG Board of Directors should submit their proposals in writing to agm@mtg.com or to the "Company Secretary", Modern Times Group MTG AB, Box 2094, SE-103 13 Stockholm, Sweden.
Financial calendar
| Item | Date |
| Q4 and Full Year 2025 Financial Results report | 5 February 2026 |
| Q1 2026 Financial Results report | 29 April 2026 |
| Annual General Meeting 2026 | 21 May 2026 |
| Q2 & 6 Months 2026 Financial Results report | 21 July 2026 |
| Q3 & 9 Months 2025 Financial Results report | 11 November 2026 |
Questions?
MTG Investor Relations
Direct: +46 8 562 000 50, ir@mtg.com
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Conference call
MTG will host a livestream and conference call at 10.00 CET today, on 13 November 2025. The call will be held in English.
How to join:
To participate via livestream, please use this link.
To join via phone, please register using this link. After you've registered, you'll receive the dial-in number and conference ID to access the teleconference.
You can ask questions via phone during the teleconference or by using the livestream Q&A tool.
Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ) - Reg no: 556309-9158 - Phone: +46 (0) 8-562 000 50
MTG (Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ)) (www.mtg.com) is an international mobile gaming group that owns and operates gaming studios with popular global IPs across a wide range of casual and mid-core genres. The group is focused on accelerating portfolio company growth and supporting founders and entrepreneurs. MTG is an active driver of gaming industry consolidation and a strategic acquirer of gaming companies around the world. We are born in Sweden but have an international culture and global footprint. Our shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm ("MTGA" and "MTGB").
This information is information that Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 7:30 CET on November 13, 2025.
This interim report contains statements concerning, among other things, MTG's financial condition and results of operations that are forward-looking in nature. Such statements are not historical facts but, rather, represent MTG's future expectations. MTG believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions; however, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of important factors could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Such important factors include but may not be limited to MTG's market position; growth in the gaming industry; and the effects of competition and other economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting the business of MTG, its group companies and the gaming industry in general. Forward-looking statements apply only as of the date they were made, and, other than as required by applicable law, MTG undertakes no obligation to update any of them in the light of new information or future events.