Japanese conglomerate Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. is reportedly in talks to acquire game developer Rovio Entertainment for $1 billion. Rovio Entertainment is best known for creating the popular smartphone game “Angry Birds,” which has been downloaded over a billion times. The game was released in 2009 and was one of the first mobile games to gain such widespread success.
The app became popular due to its ability to effectively utilize the touchscreen technology available. Players used a slingshot loaded with birds to shoot piglets. The game wasn’t just popular with gamers; the NSA and GCHQ are said to have used the app to intercept user data at one point.
Although Angry Birds achieved significant success, Rovio Entertainment was not able to repeat that success with future releases. The company experienced financial struggles, which led to several rounds of job cuts. In 2017, Rovio Entertainment went public with a market value of almost 900 million euros to keep the business growing and pay off debts. However, the first quarterly figures were disappointing, and the company began looking for buyers.
A few months ago, the Israeli mobile games maker, Playtika, attempted to acquire Rovio Entertainment for $800 million, but the deal fell through. Now, Sega is offering $1 billion for the company. It’s a substantial amount of money, although Sony’s acquisition of Bungie, the game studio behind “Destiny” and “Halo,” was for $3.6 billion in 2019.
Despite Rovio Entertainment’s financial challenges, “Angry Birds” remains a popular and influential game. Its success will likely continue to inspire game developers, especially those working with VR headset technology.
