Angry Birds. Oh, how you’ve given me super subway, airport and road trip distractions. You are a simple game, and I am happy to be on your bandwagon.
That’s my little ode to Rovio, the Finnish mobile game development company who now fancies themselves an entertainment media company. I would fancy myself whatever I wanted if I created the best selling mobile app in the world and was worth about $750 million.
I would also probably open a theme park based on said best selling mobile app.
Oh yeah, and I would buy up a couple of the little guys to increase my chances at world domination.
Rovio’s Studio Gains
But, world domination won’t come from only one successful app. That’s why over the past year Rovio has acquired two small Finnish gaming and animation studios to enhance their developer expertise and media strategy respectively.
Let’s get the lowdown on the little businesses that hope to make Rovio an even bigger brand.
Futuremark Games Studios
Futuremark Games Studio joined the Rovio revolution in March, bringing their whole team and their innovative influence with them. Created in 1997, the company has focused on developing state of the art 3D graphics programming, and has created some pretty cool games along the way.
Their top three games include:
- Unstoppable Gorg– The space defense game inspired by vintage sci-fi. The trailer for the game is worth watching, you might just laugh out loud.
- Hungribles– The skill shot puzzle game.
- Shattered Horizon– The zero gravity combat game. See also Angry Birds Space.
Rovio’s Futuremark purchase reveals its desire to create more groundbreaking mobile games, and to add to their small (but mighty) game repertoire.
Mikael Hed, Rovio Entertainment’s CEO, said he is thrilled to have the incredibly talented and experienced team on board, and believes Futuremark will make a superb addition to the company.
Kombo Animation Studio
Kombo Animation Studio, based in Helsinki, has worked with Rovio before on two awesome promo trailers for Angry Birds.
Their studio has also done work for:
- Universal Music Group
- MTV
- Nokia
But, their new boss Rovio will now be taking up all their creative time. For how big their payday was (an undisclosed amount which always means some serious cash), I don’t think they’ll have a problem with their new exclusive gig.
Rovio’s CEO is equally as thrilled to have Kombo join the team and says it is an important step in Rovio’s media strategy. He believes the quality of Kombo’s work is “simply fantastic” and he also looks forward to delighting fans with more Kombo animations.
The Kombo crew looks forward to creating bigger productions to a wider global audience, though this might be a bit of an understatement.
You see, Angry Birds has been downloaded over 200 million times across various platforms and has created a gigantic fan base across the globe. It has recently secured $42 million in funding to continue to expand their business into a larger entertainment media establishment, and it hopes to acquire more small, talented studios like Futureworks and Kombo.
I always knew Finland would eventually come to dominate the universe, I just never imagined it would derive from the power of angry, animated birds and the world’s addiction to games. I would have put money on its superior educational system and endless clean water supply. But, that’s just me.
Photo and Video Credits
Rovio.com / FutureMark.com / YouTube.com / Kombo.fi / AngryBirds.com
