Swedish game company Thunderful Group took over independent mobile game developer Early Morning Studio, advancing an aim to boost its play in the segment.

In a statement, Thunderful explained the deal lets it add popular role-playing games (RPGs) to its portfolio, including Champions of Avan and Vampire’s Fall: Origins.

The company will also acquire in-development title Vendir: Plague of Lies which is tipped to be the studio’s “biggest project yet”, with a release in 2022 targeted.

Thunderful CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson (pictured) described Early Morning Studio as “a golden nugget on an upward curve”, predicting the deal will bring value to his company by growing its mobile business.

“Adding their knowledge of how to make engaging free-to-play titles to Thunderful will be a huge advantage in a segment that has a bright future ahead”, the executive added.

Early Morning Studio was established in Sweden in 2010, and founders Emir Kuljanin and Kristian Andersson will remain in charge of the business and its 17 staff.

Kuljanin explained Thunderful’s backing will help the studio fulfil its “creative vision with the exciting mobile projects we have in the works”.

Mobile gaming revenue from user spending is expected to hit $120 billion in 2021 compared with $41 billion from PCs and more than $40 billion for consoles, data from App Annie and IDC showed.