Sega strengthens its mobile games business by acquiring Finnish Angry Birds studio Rovio
Sega will incorporate a piece of gaming history: Angry Birds. The Japanese publisher joins the Finnish studio Rovio as the developer behind the world-famous brand around 700 million dollars on the table. However, the recently announced deal is not yet complete. The takeover is not expected to be fully completed until the second quarter of this year.
Journey to 2009: A game breaks the line into the mainstream. Suddenly my grandparents understand what this video games
are. Your grandson has them Angry Birds shown. A lot of time has passed since then, and the brand around the ever raging birds is primarily at home in the mobile segment, but still has a permanent place in the gaming memory of millions.
The fact that even Der Spiegel reported on this intended acquisition.
Why is Sega buying the Angry Birds developer?
Of course, one can only speculate about the totality of the motives, but there are some logical starting points:
- Reach and market power: A year ago, Rovio announced that they had now racked up more than 5 billion downloads across all platforms and titles in their catalogue. stands behind them so a veritable mountain of paying customers. Angry Birds is still hers today strongest brand. The red birds took a considerable value under their wing back in 2012: the first mobile game with more than a billion downloads.
- Mobile Competence: Apart from all brands and customers, it is the Rovio employees who are interesting for Sega. Because they bring plenty of experience with the mobile market to the group of companies. Mobile remains a growth area for all major publishers.
Angry Birds: More than just games
Since its creation, however, a lot has happened at the brand. In addition to a number of spin-offs for various mobile platforms, the little birds have already flown over the cinema screens twice. In addition, a merchandising market has emerged around the figures.
What was your first thought? Logical step or strange strategy? And does Angry Birds still exist in your gaming world or is it a long forgotten brand? Please let us know your thoughts on this in the comments!
