According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Sega Sammy Holdings is close to acquiring Rovio Entertainment, the makers of Angry Birds, for about $1 billion. The deal could be finalized by early next week. Angry Birds broke onto the mobile gaming scene in 2009, long before microtransactions and gacha gaming took over the genre. Back then, you simply paid a few bucks for a full game and got to enjoy a full experience without having to worry about ads or spending more money just to progress.
Given the lack of competition back then, it’s no surprise Angry Birds was the first mobile game to reach one-billion downloads. Rovio also claimed that its entire games catalog has collectively reached the five-billion downloads milestone. The company is based in Finland and has turned Angry Birds into a franchise beyond mobile gaming. There have been television spin offs and movies, but these days its popularity is waning.
Sega, meanwhile, might actually be a good fit to acquire Rovio. The creators of Sonic know a thing or two about diversifying entertainment with the success of the two recent Sonic the Hedgehog movies. The iconic blue speedster has also had several series on television, and most recently had one of the best April Fools’ jokes in gaming history.
