Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Angry Birds is still big business but Rovio thinks its time for new IP

Anthony John Agnello
By
rovio
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Rovio went from a small, but surviving mobile game developer in Finland to one of the most valuable independent studios in the entire video game industry over the past three years and it’s all thanks to a bunch of creepy little birds and pigs. Angry Birds started as a popular iPhone game and ballooned into a global brand spawning not just myriad video game spinoffs, but toy lines and even theme parks. Rovio’s not getting out of the Angry Birds business any time soon, but the company has said that it plans to focus on new intellectual properties going forward.

“We have a huge amount of incredibly great Angry Birds things lined up for the future,” Rovio executive vice president Petri Jarvilehto told Edge Magazine in a recent interview, “But at the same time, we feel that the time is pretty much right to introduce new IPs and keep pushing into other directions as well. We are certainly targeting much bigger games. We’ve managed to achieve some pretty awesome things, and at the same time we feel like we need to push this to the next level.”

Recommended Videos

Easier said than done. Rovio successfully broadened the Angry Birds empire earlier this year by releasing the spinoff game Bad Piggies, but its one attempt at starting up a wholly new franchise was a failure. Rovio released Amazing Alex in July, and while the game hit the top spot on the iOS App Store’s best-selling apps list within eight hours of release, it trailed off badly afterwards. Amazing Alex was the 99th top-grossing app in the iOS store three weeks after release, and it’s trailed off even further since. It’s currently the 228th top-selling paid app in the US App Store according to App Data.

That isn’t bad for your average mobile developer, but for the company behind Angry Birds, it’s not exactly par. Then again, Amazing Alex wasn’t exactly a Rovio original either. The game is actually a rebranding of the game Casey’s Contraptions, developed by Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut, which Rovio purchased the rights for in May 2012. Rovio hasn’t developed its own original intellectual property since making its line of Bounce titles for Nokia’s line of phones in 2008.

The Angry Birds business is just getting bigger. Rovio announced just last week that it’s creating an Angry Birds movie for release in 2016. Whether or not the brand can survive without being bolstered by a second success is a question the Finnish studio needs an answer for soon.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
What’s free on the Epic Games Store right now?
Robots attacking in Industria.

Checking in on the Epic Games Store is one of the easiest ways to grow your gaming library. Epic gives out a free game or two every week, ranging from darling indies to AAA titles. All you have to do is jump on the Epic Games Store to claim the free games and they'll be added to your library to keep forever.

Keeping track of all the free titles and gaming deals can be a pain, so we're monitoring the Epic Games Store for you. We'll update this article every time a new game is made available!
What's free on the Epic Games Store right now?
These games can be picked up on the Epic Games store right now for free. Scroll down to the Free Games section of the app's Discover tab or find the individual title using the search bar. Just find and select the Get button to claim your free game. You do not have to download or install it right away.

Read more
Is Fallout 76 cross-platform?
fallout 76 nuclear winter cancelled cancel

We've all loved exploring the different regions of the wasteland in the Fallout series alone, but it wasn't until Fallout 76 that we had the chance to do so with friends. While it wasn't quite what people were hoping for at launch, years of support have made this an excellent world to explore and go on quests with friends in. While most games released in recent years support cross-platform play between consoles, Fallout 76 came out before that was the standard. If you've got a group of friends playing on different systems, will you still be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the wasteland together? Here's what you need to know.
Is Fallout 76 cross-platform?
Fallout 76 does not support full cross-platform support. The only two platforms that can play on the same servers are Xbox and PC, but only in the case where PC players are accessing the game through Game Pass. If you are on a PlayStation console or bought the game on Steam, you will only be able to play with others on those respective platforms.

Considering how many years it's been since Fallout 76 launched, it is unlikely that cross-platform support will be added at this point. Should we be proven wrong, we will update this guide to reflect that.

Read more
Sea of Thieves beginner’s guide: 16 tips for new pirates
sea of thieves how to play solo sanctuaryoutpost 2

Cooperative piracy simulator Sea of Thieves is a game that drops players right off the plank and into the deep end of the ocean as soon as they start it up. You're left to figure out how to do almost everything alone or with a crew of friends. All of it is picked up through experience as you play, which is part of what makes Sea of Thieves interesting. There are tons of little nuances and best practices, however, that you need to become an effective pirate.

If you want to win sea battles, escape plunderers, gather treasure, and generally be the best pirate on the Sea of Thieves, there is a lot to learn. Luckily, these tips will make you an effective sailor, a deft brawler, and a smart privateer when you join up with a crew. Going it alone has its perks as well, so check out our tips for your lone pirate voyages.
Start with the tutorial mission

Read more