Sonic maker Sega has acquired Rovio, Angry Birds’ developer, for $775 million. The information was revealed in a press release from both companies. The Japanese firm expressed its interest in buying the Finnish game maker due to its mobile gaming expertise and expanding its IP across different formats.
Sega says it historically has acquired numerous development studios to strengthen global development capabilities. With the size of the global market projected to reach $263.3 billion by 2026, the company expects the mobile gaming market to grow to represent 56% of the global market overall.
“Through the Acquisition, the Company aims to take in Rovio’s live-operated mobile game development capabilities and expertise in mobile game operation to accelerate the development of a mobile-compatible and multi-platform-supported version of SEGA’s existing game IPs, thereby strengthening and further accelerating the global expansion of SEGA’s game portfolio,” said the press release.
Rovio’s success comes from the award-winning game Angry Birds, which appeared in the early days of the Apple App Store. It has had over 5 billion downloads since 2009. Sega says Rovio’s platform holds 20 years of high-level expertise in live service-mobile game operation centered around the United States and Europe. “Rovio’s distinctive know-how in live service mobile game operation, to bring Sega’s current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market.”
Since both Rovio and Sega succeeded in extending their IPs – Angry Birds and Sonic the Hedgehog – to various media outside of video games, Sega now wants to help Rovio expand its platform outside of mobile gaming through cross-platform expansion.
This strategy comes when Nintendo also has bet on mobile games with Super Marion Run, Pokémon GO, and Mario Kart Tour.
Only time will tell how successful this partnership could be. You can read the announcement and the deal between Angry Birds maker and Sega here.
