It is no secret to anyone that the best years of Rovio and angry Birds they are a thing of the past. For this reason, SEGA took everyone by surprise by announcing the purchase of the studio for $775 million. The acquisition raised some doubts, since at first glance the benefits that the Japanese giant will receive are not entirely clear.
Although it is hard to believe, angry Birds It’s still going strong and profitable, so it’s obvious that SEGA wants the iconic franchise. However, there are other compelling reasons for this unexpected acquisition. What are they and how will SEGA take advantage of them? Next, we explain it to you.
The mobile market is very important for SEGA
Like it or not, the mobile gaming market is the most profitable in the entire industry. Since its peak in 2008 with the birth of the App Store, it has not stopped growing by leaps and bounds. Over the years, Japan has become one of the powers in terms of development and consumption of titles for iOS and Android, so it is not uncommon to know that SEGA is strongly committed to this sector.
Like other companies, SEGA saw a gold mine in mobile. Therefore, it has been investing in the market for years to further expand and consolidate its business. Despite some setbacks, the developer has found success in both the East and West, so mobile games account for a huge part of its annual revenue.
To put this in perspective, the company set out in 2015 focus only on mobile and PC developments. This after obtaining juicy profits and going through a strong restructuring. In the end, things didn’t go as expected, so he had to reverse that decision. Despite this, he tried the honeys of the mobile market and did not stop pursuing it.
In this sense, the purchase of Rovio is relevant. Although the company’s history is full of ups and downs, it continues to be an important benchmark in the mobile market. After all, angry Birds It was a watershed and its impact is indisputable.
So SEGA will likely take advantage of the enormous popularity of its franchises and the potential of its new studio to develop original games. Without a doubt, this will help you in your search for greater success and a financial muscle that boosts the rest of your businesses.
Rovio also represents an opportunity for SEGA to gain more ground and expand its mobile gaming market. This is due to the great experience of the Finnish study in terms of development, infrastructure and technologies in the sector. It was not for nothing that he managed to create a multimedia franchise that has generated billions of dollars and has registered more than 3.7 billion downloads. Crazy figures that, of course, say something to SEGA.
Rovio is more than angry Birds
angry Birds it was so massive that it overshadowed all the projects that Rovio launched after. Proof of this is that surely the names Sugar Blast, Small Town Murders and Darkfire Heroes They don’t sound like you at all, but they are other studio games that will pass into the hands of SEGA.
Actually, the Japanese company is not after these titles, but something that Rovio built over the years: its technology and infrastructure. The company has in its hands Beacona platform with all the necessary tools to develop and distribute mobile games.
Rovio defines this suite as the “culmination of more than 10 years of learning in the industry” and as “a comprehensive platform for games of any genre.” Without a doubt, this project caught the attention of SEGA, which is precisely seeking to boost its mobile gaming market.
Beacon not only focuses on the creation of the games, but also facilitates the processes related to distribution, monetization, as well as technical and legal issues. SEGA surely expects to reap great benefits from this tool by combining it with its strong development strength and the popularity of its franchises.
? Our latest blog post sheds some light on Beacon, Rovio’s in-house platform that simplifies game development with industry leading tech, and allows game teams to focus on making the best games for their players. ?Read more here: https://t.co/cbjY8M3ZxH pic.twitter.com/cnkkaUr4on
—Rovio (@Rovio) March 10, 2023
angry Birds He’s not at his best, but…
angry Birds It was a before and after for mobile games, but the reality is that its best years are behind it. We don’t blame you if you lost track of it a long time ago, as its relevance faded after dozens of spin-offs.
Despite this, the saga lives on and is still profitable. Over the past few years, Rovio has stretched the league of angry Birds everything possible and, thanks to this, it has stayed afloat after suffering financial problems, studio closures and waves of layoffs.
After its best moments, the franchise tried everything and opted for other types of projects that did not give the best results. Angry Birds Champions recovered the mechanics of the original game, but allowed the best players to win real money. The saga also tried it with virtual reality and augmented reality with titles like Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, The Angry Birds Movie 2 VR: Under Pressure and Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs.
In reality, Rovio was never able to escape the shadow of the original game and its huge success. So last year he relaunched the first angry Birds under the Rovio Classics label. To the surprise of many, at the beginning of 2023 he withdrew it from Google Play and changed its name in the App Store for strategic reasons.
So even though it seems angry Birds it is buried 3 meters underground, the reality is that it is still something and millions of people still love it. Because of this, SEGA could take the opportunity to revive the franchise in a big way, collaborate with its franchises, or even develop a new installment.
SEGA wants to compete in the race for the mobile market
The industry is in a consolidation stage and everyone wants a slice of the pie. Mobile games will continue to be a very relevant pillar of the industry, so many companies are making important moves to not be left behind.
To understand SEGA’s move, it’s important to remember that Take-Two bought Zynga and that PlayStation is already working to expand its most important sagas to mobile. Also, Microsoft is close to acquiring King and plans to open a new store to compete with Google, Apple and Tencent. At the same time, Epic Games wants to do the same and for this it fights for greater openness and competition in the sector.
Although the purchase of Rovio is not comparable to the aforementioned acquisitions, it will certainly help SEGA not to be left behind in this race. To all this, we must add the interest that the Japanese company has in games based on the blockchain and NFTs. As much as we hate the idea, SEGA may be leveraging Rovio’s technology to power Play-to-Earn games in the future.
An alliance beyond mobile phones and video games
Finally, SEGA sees potential in Rovio because it managed to expand angry Birds beyond video games to turn it into a successful multimedia franchise. The Japanese company has done something similar with sonic, which has movies, animated series, books, toys and endless collectibles. Thus, it is not ruled out that SEGA follows this strategy and applies it to its other sagas.
Thanks to this acquisition, Rovio will use the reach of SEGA to continue expanding its franchise to other media and platforms. In addition, we know that the Finnish studio wants to grow and go beyond the mobile gaming sector. So you can do it with the full support of the Japanese giant. What do you think of this purchase? Do you think it will offer great things to players? Tell us.
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