Sega is buying Rovio, the Finnish video game company best known for creating Angry Birds, in a €706 million (~$776 million) deal. Although a large number of existing Sega games are available on iOS and Android, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, the company is looking to “accelerate its expansion” into mobile gaming.
The purchase of Rovio will give Sega access to Beacon, its “high-end experience” platform designed to improve and simplify game design, monetization, and maintenance. Basically, it’s the accelerator Sega is looking for to bring its current and future titles into the big leagues of mobile gaming. “I feel blessed to be able to announce such a transaction with Rovio, a company that owns angry Birdswhich is loved around the world and home to many skilled employees who support the company’s industry-leading mobile game development and operational capabilities,” said Haruki Satomi, president and CEO of Sega Sammy, in a statement.
angry Birds it truly was the definition of a “phenomenon.” There was a time in the early 2010s where if you asked someone if they were playing angry Birds, almost all said yes. In early 2014, Rovio said that the The Angry Birds series had surpassed two billion downloads, with 200 million playing the games every month.
Its popularity has certainly waned in the years since, but that’s not to say angry Birds it disappeared from the global consciousness (Rovio has over five billion downloads). A 2015 movie inspired by the game grossed just under $347 million worldwide, though 2019’sThe Angry Birds Movie 2‘ dropped to $147.8 million, according to Mojo Box Office. just last year, angry Birds returned to the App Store for 99 cents as Rovio Classics: Angry Birds.
Rovio has yet to produce anything close to the success of angry Birds but, with the deal expected to close “during the third quarter of 2023,” it will be interesting to see what comes next.
