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Rovio Entertainment

This article is about the Finnish video game developer. For other uses, see Rovio.

Rovio Entertainment Oyj (formerly Relude Oy and Rovio Mobile Oy) is a Finnish-American video game developer based in Espoo. Founded in 2003 by Helsinki University of Technology students Niklas Hed, Jarno Väkeväinen and Kim Dikert, the company is best known for the Angry Birds franchise. The company currently operates studios in Barcelona, Toronto, Montreal, Espoo, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. The company's success has helped to establish Finland as a leading player in the mobile game industry and has helped to create a thriving ecosystem for game development in the country.[2] In August 2023, Sega bought Rovio for US$776 million and was made a subsidiary of the Sega Europe division.[3][4]

Rovio Entertainment Corporation
Rovio
Native name
Rovio Entertainment Oyj
Formerly
  • Relude Oy (2003–2005)
  • Rovio Mobile Oy (2005–2011)
  • Rovio Entertainment Oy (2011–2017)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded8 January 2003; 21 years ago (2003-01-08) in Helsinki, Finland
Founders
  • Niklas Hed
  • Jarno Väkeväinen
  • Kim Dikert
Headquarters
Espoo
,
Finland
Number of locations
8 studios[1] (2022)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Alexandre Pelletier-Normand (CEO)
  • Teemu Tertsunen (CFO)
  • Flea the Bea (CSO)
ProductsAngry Birds series
RevenueIncrease €317.7 million[1] (2022)
Decrease €28.6 million[1] (2022)
Decrease €22.9 million[1] (2022)
Number of employees
Increase 513[1] (2022)
ParentSega (2023–present)
SubsidiariesRuby Games
Websiterovio.com

History

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2003–2009: early years

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In 2003, three students from the Helsinki University of Technology, Niklas Hed, Jarno Väkeväinen and Kim Dikert, participated in a mobile game development competition at the Assembly demo party sponsored by Nokia and Hewlett-Packard. A victory with a mobile game called King of the Cabbage World led the trio to set up their own company, Relude. King of the Cabbage World was sold to Sumea, and renamed to Mole War, which became one of the first commercial real-time multiplayer mobile games. In January 2005, Relude received its first round of investment from a business angel, and the company changed its name to Rovio Mobile, where "rovio" translates from Finnish as "pyre".[5]

In 2009, the board gave Mikael Hed the job of CEO. In December 2009, Rovio released Angry Birds, its 52nd game, a puzzle game where a bird is flung at pigs using a slingshot for the iPhone; it reached No. 1 spot in the Apple App Store paid apps chart after six months, and remained charted for months after.[5]

2010–2014: international success

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In March 2011, Rovio raised $42 million in venture capital funding from Accel Partners, Atomico and Felicis Ventures.[6] In July 2011, the company changed its name to Rovio Entertainment.[7][8] In June 2011, the company hired David Maisel to lead their Angry Birds movie production.[9] By October 2011, Rovio purchased Kombo, a Helsinki-based animation company.[10] The animation studio was acquired to produce a series of short videos released in 2012.[11] In March 2012, Rovio acquired Futuremark Game Studios, the game development division of benchmarking company Futuremark, for an undisclosed sum.[12]

In May 2012, Rovio announced that its game series Angry Birds had reached its one billionth download. In July 2012, Rovio announced a distribution partnership with Activision to bring the first three Angry Birds titles to video game consoles and handhelds, in a collection named Angry Birds Trilogy. It was released in September 2012. In November 2012, Rovio released Angry Birds Star Wars, an iteration of its popular game licensed from the Star Wars original trilogy, for mobile devices and PC. Rovio partnered with Activision again to port the title to video game consoles and handhelds, with it being released on those platforms in October 2013. A sequel, Angry Birds Star Wars II, based on the Star Wars prequel trilogy, was released in September 2013.

In March 2013, Rovio launched its multi-platform Toons.TV channel starting with Angry Birds Toons.[13] As of 2013, Rovio became a video game publisher and is publishing third party games through its Rovio Stars program.[14] The channel was discontinued in 2017.

In January 2014, Rovio announced that its game series Angry Birds had reached its two billionth download.[15] In addition, it was revealed that their flagship series, Angry Birds, "leaked data" to third-party companies, possibly to surveillance agencies like the NSA.[16] In retaliation, anti-NSA hackers defaced Rovio's website.[17]

In May 2014, Rovio launched a new publishing arm, Rovio LVL11, to release experimental games.[18] The first game published under Rovio LVL11 is Retry[19] and the second is Selfie Slam.[20] As of June 2014, Rovio considers themselves an entertainment company, not just a game company. This is reinforced by Rovio's merchandise and licensing business accounting for about half of their annual revenue of $216 million in 2013.[21]

2014–present: decline and acquisition by Sega

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In August 2014, Rovio announced that Mikael Hed would step down as CEO in January 2015 in favour of Pekka Rantala.[22] Hed remained on Rovio's board and became the chairman of Rovio Animation. In December 2014, Rovio laid off 110 employees after net profits halved in 2013 due to its recent games, Angry Birds Epic and Go!, which have not been that successful as past games.[23] After this move, Rovio closed its Tampere studio, moving their operations to its Espoo location. At the end of 2014, Rovio suffered from a 73% decrease in profit, earning only €10 million. Pekka Rantala stated that the decrease is due to the poor sales of the licensed merchandise and the by-products of Angry Birds. He also noted that "the company are unsatisfied over the result of our licensing business".[24] In August 2015, Rovio laid off 260 employees worldwide after Angry Birds toy and merchandise revenue fell by 43% during 2014.[25] In December 2015, Rantala announced that he would step down as the CEO and would be succeeded by Kati Levoranta, former chief legal officer of Rovio, in January 2016.[26]

On 16 January 2017, Rovio opened its new game studio in London to focus on massively multiplayer online games.[27] On 15 February, Rovio announced that it will be cutting at least 35 jobs as it restructures the animation division.[28] In March, Kaiken Entertainment, founded by former Rovio CEO Mikael Hed, acquired Rovio's animation division.[29] Later that month Rovio reported that it has returned to profitability with a gross revenue of US$201 million with the success of the Angry Birds Movie and its recent video games.[30] In June, Kaj Hed resigned as chairman of Rovio and Mika Ihamuotila succeeded him as new chairman.[31] On 5 September, Rovio announced its intention to become a publicly-traded company.[32] In October, Rovio shares were sold at NASDAQ Helsinki[33] and the company was valued at $1 billion.[34]

On 2 March 2018, Rovio announced the closure of its London studio after disappointing results.[35] Later on 14 November, Rovio announced that it appointed the former Gameloft executive Alexandre Pelletier-Normand as executive vice president of its game business unit. He started his role on January 2, 2019.[36] On 30 November 2018, Rovio announced that they had fully acquired PlayRaven, the developer known for making strategy games such as Eve: War of Ascension.[37]

On 3 June 2020, Rovio acquired Darkfire Games for an undisclosed sum. The subsidiary became Rovio Copenhagen.[38] On 21 December Rovio announced that Executive Vice President of games, Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, would take over as CEO. The change went into effect on January 1, 2021.[39] In 2021, the New Mexico attorney general filed a federal lawsuit against Rovio, alleging the company illegally collected and sold private personal data of users under thirteen to third party advertisers.[40]

On 15 April 2023, IGN reported that Sega would be acquiring Rovio, with a deal close to $1 billion. Rovio had rejected an earlier acquisition bid from Israeli mobile company Playtika for $800 million.[41] Two days later Sega Sammy Holdings announced that they have made a €706 million ($776 million USD) tender offer to bid for Rovio, which closed on 17 August.[3] On December 7, Rovio closed down the Montreal based division Studio Lumi leading to the loss of 16 jobs.[42][43]

Games developed

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Pre-Angry Birds

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Prior to creating Angry Birds, Rovio developed 51 games, a combination of work-for-hire projects, publishing contracts and independently released titles.[44]

  • Bounce Boing Voyage – N-Gage (2008)
  • Bounce Evolution – Nokia N900 (2009)
  • Bounce Tales – Java ME (2008)
  • Bounce Touch – Symbian^1 (2008)
  • Burger Rush – Java ME (2008)
  • Burnout – Java ME (2007)
  • Collapse Chaos – Java ME (2008)
  • Cyber Blood – Java ME (2006)
  • Darkest Fear – Java ME (2005), iOS (2009)
  • Darkest Fear 2: Grim Oak – Java ME (2006)
  • Darkest Fear 3: Nightmare – Java ME (2006)
  • Desert Sniper – Java ME (2006)
  • Dragon & Jade – Java ME (2007)
  • Formula GP Racing – Java ME (2005)
  • Gem Drop Deluxe – Java ME (2008)
  • Marine Sniper – Java ME (2007)
  • Mole War – Java ME (2004)
  • Need for Speed: Carbon – Java ME (2006)
  • Paid to Kill – Java ME (2004)
  • Paper Planes – Java ME (2008)
  • Patron Angel – Java ME (2007)
  • Playman Winter Games – Java ME (2005)
  • Shopping Madness – Java ME (2007)
  • Space Impact: Meteor Shield – Nokia N97 (2010)
  • Star Marine – Java ME (2007)
  • Sumea Ski Jump – Java ME (2007)
  • SWAT Elite Troops – Java ME (2008)
  • Totomi – iOS, Flash, Java ME (2008)
  • US Marine Corps Scout Sniper – Java ME (2006)
  • War Diary: Burma – Java ME (2005)
  • War Diary: Crusader – Java ME (2005)
  • War Diary: Torpedo – Java ME (2005)
  • Wolf Moon – Java ME (2006)
  • X Factor 2008 – Java ME (2008)

2009–present

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Year Title Platform(s)
Android iOS PC WP
2009 Angry Birds Yes Yes Yes Yes
2010 Angry Birds Seasons Yes Yes Yes Yes
2011 Angry Birds Rio Yes Yes Yes Yes
2012 Angry Birds Space Yes Yes Yes Yes
Amazing Alex Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bad Piggies Yes Yes Yes Yes
Angry Birds Star Wars Yes Yes Yes Yes
2013 The Croods Yes Yes Yes No
Angry Birds Friends Yes Yes Yes No
Angry Birds Star Wars II Yes Yes Yes Yes
Angry Birds Go! Yes Yes No Yes
2014 Angry Birds Epic Yes Yes No Yes
Angry Birds Stella Yes Yes No Yes
Angry Birds Transformers Yes Yes No No
Selfie Slam Yes Yes No Yes
Retry Yes Yes No No
2015 Angry Birds POP! Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds 2 Yes Yes Yes No
Nibblers Yes Yes No No
Love Rocks Starring Shakira Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds Fight! Yes Yes No No
2016 Angry Birds Action! Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds Blast! Yes Yes No No
2017 Battle Bay Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds Evolution Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds Match Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds Champions No Yes No No
Angry Birds for Messenger Yes Yes No No
2019 Angry Birds Dream Blast Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds VR/AR: Isle of Pigs Yes Yes Yes No
Angry Birds POP Blast Yes Yes No No
Angry Birds Explore Yes Yes No No
The Angry Birds Movie 2 VR: Under Pressure No No No No
Sugar Blast Yes Yes No No
2020 Small Town Murders Yes Yes No No
2021 Angry Birds Reloaded No Yes No No
Angry Birds: Bird Island Yes Yes Yes No
2022 Angry Birds Journey Yes Yes No No
Rovio Classics: Angry Birds Yes Yes No No
2023 Angry Birds Kingdom Yes No No No
Bad Piggies 2 Yes Yes No No
2024 Angry Birds Block Quest Yes No No No
Sonic Rumble[45] Yes Yes Yes No

Television series

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Feature films

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Annual report 2022" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  2. ^ "How Finland Became a Major Player in the Global Gaming Industry? | The Enterprise World". 30 May 2022. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b Reid, Jenni (17 April 2023). "Sega to acquire Angry Birds maker Rovio for $776 million". CNBC. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  4. ^ Scullion, Chris (18 August 2023). "Sega has completed its acquisition of Rovio". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  5. ^ a b "In the land of Angry Birds: Rovio reveals its global entertainment ambitions (photo gallery)". venturebeat.com. 24 November 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  6. ^ Thorsen, Tor (11 March 2011). "Angry Birds dev raises $42 million". gamespot.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  7. ^ Wingfield, Nick (10 August 2011). "'Angry Birds' Spreads Wings". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018 – via www.wsj.com.
  8. ^ Wauters, Robin (21 December 2012). "After 3 Years Of Angry Birds, What's Next For Rovio?". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  9. ^ "Angry Birds hires movie producer for 'future films' – BBC Newsbeat". bbc.co.uk. 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Rovio Acquires Finnish Animation Studio Kombo For Cash and Stock". adweek.com. June 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  11. ^ Whitworth, Dan (20 October 2011). "Angry Birds confirm work on a film version is underway – BBC Newsbeat". bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  12. ^ "'Angry Birds' creator Rovio acquires Futuremark Games Studio". theverge.com. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  13. ^ "Rovio Announces Second Season of 'Angry Birds Toons' Series". hollywoodreporter.com. 25 September 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  14. ^ "Angry Birds Maker Rovio Will Now Publish And Market Select Third-Party Games". techcrunch.com. 14 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  15. ^ "Angry Birds series pecks up 2 billion downloads". engadget.com. 22 January 2014. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  16. ^ Ball, James (28 January 2014). "Angry Birds and 'leaky' phone apps targeted by NSA and GCHQ for user data". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
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  18. ^ "Rovio's new publishing arm LVL11 is a 'magical place' for experimental games". polygon.com. 7 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  19. ^ "Angry Birds developers reveal Flappy Bird-inspired mobile game Retry". polygon.com. 7 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  20. ^ "Selfie Slam is a collection of silly mini-games from Rovio that's in soft launch for iPad and iPhone". pocketgamer.co.uk. 16 September 2014. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  21. ^ Rossi, Juhana (18 June 2014). "Mighty Eagle: Angry Birds Maker Not a Games Company". wsj.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  22. ^ Isidore, Chris (29 August 2014). "Struggling Angry Birds maker dumping CEO". cnn.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  23. ^ "Angry Birds maker Rovio reduces layoffs to 110 and will close a studio". venturebeat.com. 4 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  24. ^ "Angry Birds dev profits falling off sharply – but not for the reason you think – VG247". vg247.com. 19 March 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  25. ^ "Angry Birds developer Rovio to lay off 260 staff". eurogamer.net. 26 August 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  26. ^ "Rovio's CEO steps down after just over a year on the job". theverge.com. 9 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  27. ^ "Angry Birds maker Rovio opens new games studio in London". reuters.com. 16 January 2017. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  28. ^ Verbergt, Matthias (15 February 2017). "'Angry Birds' Owner Rovio to Cut Jobs". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018 – via www.wsj.com.
  29. ^ Rizzo, Carita (7 March 2017). "Rovio Founder Launches Kaiken Entertainment, Takes Over Rovio's TV Animation, Publishing". Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  30. ^ Rosendahl, Jussi (28 February 2017). "Angry Birds-dependent games maker Rovio swings to annual profit". reuters.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  31. ^ "Rovio's Board of Directors appoints Mika Ihamuotila as new Chairman of the Board". pocketgamer.biz. 2 June 2017. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  32. ^ "Angry Birds maker Rovio announces plans for IPO to raise $36 million". venturebeat.com. 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  33. ^ "Rovio confirm plan for IPO on Helsinki NASDAQ". mcvuk.com. 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  34. ^ "Angry Birds maker Rovio sets IPO price range that values company around $1 billion". venturebeat.com. 15 September 2017. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  35. ^ Field, Matthew (2 March 2018). "Angry Birds maker Rovio shutters London studio as results disappoint". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  36. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (14 November 2018). "Ex-Gameloft Exec Joins 'Angry Birds' Developer Rovio Entertainment". Archived from the original on 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  37. ^ Rosendahl, Anne Kauranen (1 December 2018). "Angry Birds firm Rovio buys strategy game studio PlayRaven". Reuters. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018 – via www.reuters.com.
  38. ^ "Rovio Entertainment has acquired Darkfire Games – Copenhagen based mobile games studio" (Press release). 3 June 2020. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  39. ^ "Alexandre Pelletier-Normand appointed as the new CEO". Rovio. 21 December 2020. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  40. ^ Gillett, M. Tyler (28 August 2021). "New Mexico sues Angry Birds developer over child privacy violations". JURIST. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  41. ^ Yang, George (15 April 2023). "Sega is Reportedly Close to Acquiring Angry Birds Developer Rovio for $1 Billion". IGN. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  42. ^ Writer, Sophie McEvoy Staff (7 December 2023). "Rovio closes Studio Lumi". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  43. ^ Griffiths, Daniel (7 December 2023). "Rovio close Studio Lumi in Montreal with the loss of 16 jobs". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  44. ^ Mundy, Jon (13 October 2010). "Interview: Rovio on the origin of Angry Birds, being inspired by swine flu, and why you may never see an Angry Birds 2". PocketGamer. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  45. ^ "Rovio's involvement in Sonic Rumble". X. Rovio. 8 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
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