Sega wants its own angry birds, is acquiring Rovio


Sega acquiring angry birds developer bird being launched

Sega is getting ready to sling its own angry birds after the Japanese company has made a substantial offer of €706 million (around £625m) to buy the Finland-based studio Rovio. According to a Sega press release, the acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of the 2024 financial year, around the end of September.

The Japanese company wants to gain a significant portion in the mobile gaming market, as it is reported that it should account for 56 percent of the global overall market by 2026. The acquisition of the Angry Birds developer is part of a strategy by the company to solidify a position.

Sega is definitely not new to the whole buying studios process, having already acquired Creative Assembly (developer of Total War and Halo Wars 2) in 2005 and, several years later, acquiring Atlus, well known developers of the Persona series.

Sega comments that "through the acquisition, the company aims to take-in Rovio's live-operated mobile game development capabilities and expertise in mobile game operation, to accelerate the development of mobile-compatible and multi-platform-supported version of Sega's existing game IPs, thereby strengthening and further accelerating global expansion of Sega's game portfolio."

But the Japanese gaming company also has other potential future objectives for the Finland-based company Rovio. "Sega will actively look to support the process of Rovio expanding its platform beyond mobile gaming through its capabilities," the company said.

In 2009, Rovio released its original Angry Birds, which has since launched an entire series of games, merchandise and even two movies. Still, the company seemed to have struggled to come up with another game to match the success of its classic hit. Overall, Rovio's mobile titles have been downloaded over one billion times.

We will have to see what Sega's plans for the franchise and for Rovio will be. As for us, we can already imagine an Angry Sonic being launched at the fortress of Dr Robotnik.

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