What you need to know
- Angry Birds creator Rovio was bought by Sega for $775 million.
- The purchase comes after Playtika previously put in a bid for $735 to purchase Rovio.
- Angry Birds games have seen decreased sales as of late, causing Rovio to delist the original game in favor of pushing users to newer franchise entries.
Red, Chuck, Bomb, Terence, Matilda, and even the Mighty Eagle of Angry Birds fame can now call Sega’s headquarters home as Sega moved to purchase Rovio for $775 million on April 17, 2023. Playtika, a company that specializes in mobile casino and card games, previously made a $735 million bid for Rovio back in February.
The news of the acquisition comes via Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab) and follows rumors that Rovio has been struggling financially for the past year or so after recent games like Angry Birds Journey (opens in new tab) failed to impress critics or catch on in meaningful ways. Likewise, it’s been a while since an Angry Birds game graced our list of best Android games (opens in new tab).
Rovio previously announced that Angry Birds classic would be delisted (opens in new tab) in February because of the “game’s impact on our wider games portfolio,” a long-winded way of saying newer Angry Birds games weren’t making as much as the company had hoped. Today, you can find a plethora of Angry Birds games on the Play Store but none are the original title that brought Rovio out of bankruptcy when it launched in 2011.
While it’s not known how Sega will treat the franchise, it’s entirely possible that Sega’s gamer-centric past will please fans more than if Playtika had purchased Rovio. The main complaints in recent years from fans have largely revolved around games being littered with microtransactions and mobile casino and card games are well known for pushing in-game currency spend.
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