Rovio’s most popular app could now be taking on Candy Crush as it jumps into a new game category.
When it comes to the mobile gaming industry, Angry Birds continues to hold its position among the most popular app series in the world, but at the same time, it isn’t even approaching the financial successes that are seen by puzzle based options such as Candy Crush Saga.
The Angry Birds developer has now decided to that its mobile games will be closer to Puzzle & Dragons.
Rovio has not been blind to the match-three puzzle style mobile gaming apps and it has now soft-launched two new games in the Angry Birds series that have dumped their traditional bird slingshot style play for, yes, themed match-three puzzles. Angry Birds Fight! has now been made available in Thailand, while Angry Birds Stella Pop! is available to Canadian downloaders.
Mobile gaming developers have been using single country debuts as a type of standard for testing their apps.
The mobile app developers use these single country releases to be able to refine their new games before they are ready to launch them worldwide. According to recent reports from early downloaders, the style of the newest Angry Bird match-three puzzle games is that of “freemium” applications, in which they can be downloaded and played for free, but where there are in-app purchases for virtual items available to players who want to enhance their experience.
The Angry Birds Fight! version of the game involves having to match three or more birds in a line in order to be able to combat enemies – somewhat similar to the highly popular Puzzle & Dragons game from the GungHo Online app developer based in Japan.
On the other hand, the Angry Birds Stella Pop! is more comparable to the Puzzle Bobble (also known as Bust-a-Move) console classic bubble popping game, or to the more recent mobile gaming app from King (maker of Candy Crush), which is called the Bubble Witch Saga. This move will be a defining one for Rovio, which still holds onto considerable popularity with its Angry Birds app, but that has been watching that popularity slide since late 2012.
The company is going to start selling its Freewheel wireless service that is based exclusively on WiFi connectivity.
Cablevision has announced that it will be going into direct competition with mobile technology service providers in February, when it will start to sell a new service that it has called Freewheel, which is meant to be a low cost, WiFi based alternative to traditional cell phone connectivity.
The existing internet service subscribers at Cablevision will receive the first offers for Freewheel.
Those who subscribe for $9.95 per month will be able to take advantage of their mobile technology through unlimited talk, text, and data. That said, for consumers who aren’t already internet service customers at that company, the same package for their smartphones would be $29.99 per month. This will clearly be much more appealing to those customers who are already subscribers of internet service through the company.
At the time of the launch, Cablevision will be selling only one piece of mobile technology: the Moto G.
Customers purchasing the Motorola smartphone through Cablevision and its Freewheel program can expect to pay $99.95 for that mobile device. It will be preloaded with authenticating apps that function with any of the hotspots from that service provider.
In 2007, Cablevision began the expansion of its own Optimum WiFi network, and it now boasts over 1.1 million hotspots throughout the New York tri-state area. In 2014, the company implemented WiFi sharing similar to Fon, which made it possible for many of the routers of its customers to be converted into public hotspots, simply by adding a separate additional network that is accessible by any Optimum customer. That would now include Freewheel subscribers, once that program officially rolls out.
Additionally, Freewheel customers will also be able to use their mobile technology at any of 300,000 more hotspots across the United States, through the CableWiFi initiative, which interconnects WiFi access points from large providers such as Time Warner Cable, Cox, and Comcast. The service will also allow a customer to use their device with any other WiFi network to which he or she has access, including home and work.
The mobile app developers use these single country releases to be able to refine their new games before they are ready to launch them worldwide. According to recent reports from early downloaders, the style of the newest Angry Bird match-three puzzle games is that of “freemium” applications, in which they can be downloaded and played for free, but where there are in-app purchases for virtual items available to players who want to enhance their experience.