According to reports, Sega is reportedly on the verge of acquiring Rovio Entertainment, the company behind the popular Angry Birds mobile game franchise, for a staggering €700 million. The deal could be finalized as early as next week, as per insiders speaking with the publication.
Read: Elon Musk’s new AI company is called X.AI
The move seems surprising given the decline in popularity of the franchise, which peaked in 2014 before experiencing falling profits and layoffs. Rovio attempted to revive the franchise with The Angry Birds Movie in 2016, which was a box office hit, but the 2019 sequel failed to replicate the same success. Meanwhile, competitors like Candy Crush have gained more and more traction, eating into the franchise’s market share.
Recently, Rovio removed the original Angry Birds game from the Google Play Store and renamed the iOS version to Red’s First Flight, in a bid to focus players on its more lucrative sequels and move away from the traditional “buy once, play forever” business model.
Interestingly, Rovio previously came close to an $800 million deal with Israeli developer Playtika earlier this year, but talks eventually fizzled out in March. Now, it seems that Sega could be the Finland-based company’s new owner.
Despite the franchise’s waning popularity, it’s worth noting that Rovio’s original Angry Birds game was the first mobile game to reach 1 billion downloads, and Rovio claimed last year that its combined library of games had been downloaded 5 billion times. Perhaps this is why Sega is willing to shell out such a large sum for the company.
With Sega looking to build up a new mobile games franchise to rival its iconic Sonic and friends, it remains to be seen if Rovio can provide the boost the company needs to succeed in this highly competitive space.