SEGA to Acquire Angry Birds Maker Rovio Entertainment for $775 Million
SEGA Corporation has announced its plans to acquire mobile game developer Rovio Entertainment, known for creating the popular game Angry Birds. The deal is set to be completed by September 2023.
SEGA to Purchase Rovio Entertainment, Maker of Angry Birds, for $775 Million
SEGA Corporation has announced plans to acquire Rovio Entertainment Oyj, the Finnish mobile game developer behind the hugely popular Angry Birds franchise, for €706 million ($775 million). The deal is expected to be completed by September 2023, and will see the takeover of the mobile game development studio and use its expertise in mobile gaming to create multi-platform titles from the buyer’s IP portfolio.
Mobile gaming has high potential for growth in the global gaming market, and SEGA has been aiming to accelerate its expansion in this field for some time. The acquisition of Rovio is part of their strategy to achieve that goal. Apart from acquiring Rovio’s mobile gaming expertise, they also plan to help expand Rovio’s platform “outside of mobile gaming.”
This suggests that new Angry Birds titles for consoles, as well as new feature films and TV series, may be on the horizon. The Angry Birds franchise has already been downloaded over 5 billion times, and Rovio’s Beacon platform for game development is another key part of the acquisition.
As the global gaming industry continues to expand, mobile gaming is expected to play an even bigger role, with projected growth of 10.2% CAGR between 2022 and 2026. The acquisition is an important move to capitalize on this growth and to bring more exciting titles to mobile gamers worldwide. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval, but if everything goes according to plan, the gaming world can expect a lot more from SEGA and Rovio in the years to come.
Pokdepinion: This caught me completely off guard as I thought they would have trouble with large purchases like this. Perhaps manufacturing hardware really killed off their finances in their final few years in the console gaming space.
