Acquisitions Angry Birds Maker Rovio is Now Officially a SEGA Studio

[Dreadknux]

SEGA has officially welcomed Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment into its roster of game studios, as the corporate acquisition of the Finnish mobile company finalises.

A post celebrating the completion of the buyout from SEGA was accompanied with a picture of Angry Birds and Sonic the Hedgehog characters - possibly illustrating potential new collaboration opportunities.

"Welcome to the SEGA family, Rovio," SEGA announced this morning. "We’re so thrilled to celebrate Rovio becoming a member of the SEGA Group. Get ready for exciting adventures ahead!"

Rovio's shareholders approved the terms of SEGA's acquisition - which valued the mobile games company at around $1 billion - on a near-unanimous basis, with over 96 per cent agreeing to move ahead back in early August. This public post from SEGA since then would indicate that the deal has been finalised.

So. What's next? Red the Bird? Angry Sonic? Red and Sonic at the Eurovision Song Contest? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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[DaBigJ]

I got a feeling that SEGA will take very big advantage of owning the Angry Birds IP by bringing or making games for console players. Who knows, maybe Rovio will make games with SEGA IPs?

[KayDen]

this doesn't affect me, this studio will probably be used as a tech research or a secondary. like how everyone will clamoring for mania team to takeover the sonic franchise, only for them to be reduced to d-list status with the origins ports 

[ShadowXeldron]

No joke, Red and Sonic appearing at Eurovision would be the only thing that would get me to watch it.

[sonicclaasic]

That's Interesting so we might see a Angry Birds Sonic crossover game In the near future or some sort of collaboration?

I've been following this news for some quite sometime now. Would we see maybe a cartoon crossover between the characters of Angry Birds and the Sonic characters I wonder some much possibilitys.

[ShadowForever]

Angry Sonic

No, actually, it'd be interesting to see Sonic characters' bird versions. 

And can't stop laughing of Eurovision:D

Edited August 18, 2023 by ShadowForever

[Blue Blood]

8 hours ago, DaBigJ said:

I got a feeling that SEGA will take very big advantage of owning the Angry Birds IP by bringing or making games for console players. Who knows, maybe Rovio will make games with SEGA IPs?

Rovio tried to bring their mobile games to consoles in the past with mixed results. Their games are built squarely for the mobile format, with short-sessions and recurrent monetisation in mind. I don't really think that they're going to get much milage out of bringing Angry Birds to consoles. My guess is that SEGA wants to further invest in Angry Birds on mobile, and possibly use Rovio's mobile expertise to boost their own mobile endeavours. SEGA tried this before with Demiurge, but that whole pursuit failed and they sold the company back to its original owners (which led to SEGA Heroes being shut down, because it was was basically a flop). 

Whatever happens, SEGA threw a lot of money into this deal. They see value in the mobile market. 

[Tornado]

wow this is great news for microsoft in 6 months

[Jango]

Do All-Stars Racing 3 and add Red.

[Baconjack]

Sega paying ridiculous overs for a company that hasn’t made a successful product for yonks. When was Angry Birds last relevant - 8 years ago? 706m eur is a lot for an average mobile game dev and a dead in the water ip in a declining mobile market.

Yeah this is the modern day equivalent of Sega having the foresight to give away visual concepts to 2k

[Blue Blood]

On 8/19/2023 at 5:35 AM, Baconjack said:

Sega paying ridiculous overs for a company that hasn’t made a successful product for yonks. When was Angry Birds last relevant - 8 years ago? 706m eur is a lot for an average mobile game dev and a dead in the water ip in a declining mobile market.

Yeah this is the modern day equivalent of Sega having the foresight to give away visual concepts to 2k

You seem to have no idea how much money Rovio makes, and where that money comes from:

Angry Birds lost its cultural relevance a few years ago and they aren't the strongest mobile gaming company out there, but the games still bring in huge amounts of revenue with daily users in the several millions. There is a ton of money to be made from Rovio, and that's what SEGA will be looking at.