Tag: rovio

Mobile games company, Rovio, teams up with Lego

The Finnish developer of the hit game, Angry Birds will now launch a new version of that app.

Rovio, the mobile games developer behind Angry Birds, has now signed a deal with Lego that will allow it to create and release several new versions of the app that will be based on the popular building blocks toy.

This is the latest in the Finnish company’s strategy to boost its dwindling licensing business for that game.

The mobile games earnings that Rovio saw last year from its Angry Birds brand dropped by a tremendous 73 percent, as the demand for the app’s images and themes on clothing, toys, and even sweet treats has tumbled downward. The hope is that by teaming up with Lego toys, there will be a new explosion of popularity that will occur at the same time that the full length Angry Birds movie is released in the spring of next year.

It is evident that Rovio is working hard to breathe life into the hottest mobile games it has ever released.

Mobile Games - Lego & Rovio PartnershipThe risk is that the fad for the game app has come and gone, and that the company will need to continue to scramble to release something else that will be equally appealing to consumers in an ever more flooded gaming marketplace.

The Angry Birds game involves the use of a slingshot through which the player launches various types of birds to attack the pigs who have stolen their eggs. While it remains the top paid mobile app of all time, its novelty is rapidly worn away and mobile device users are looking through the various app marketplaces for newer opportunities to play. Rovio has been struggling to create new hit games and has been relying heavily on the licensing of its top hit for its revenues.

The company is hopeful that the mobile games partnership with Lego and the release of next year’s 3D movie will help to boost its licensed toy business. Recently, it had been forced to slash about 14 percent of its workforce, which was around 110 jobs, as a result of the dwindling earnings that it has been seeing when compared to previous years.

Angry Birds takes on mobile gaming puzzles

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.

Mobile Gaming - Angry Birds - Image from amusement parkThe 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.