Sega’s parent company, Sega Sammy Holdings, is about to buy Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish mobile games maker behind Angry Birds, in a deal worth $1 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. That deal could be finalized next week, according to the Journal.
Rovio is best known for Angry Birdsthe physics puzzle game released for iOS in 2009. Rovio has delivered multiple sequels, spinoffs, and ties to other brands, including Star Wars, Transformers, and the animated film Rio. Sega and Rovio also partnered in 2015 to bring Sonic the Hedgehog characters Angry Birds epic, a turn-based role-playing game. An animated series and two feature films have also been released featuring Angry Birds characters.
Angry Birds’ worldwide success hasn’t carried over to Rovio’s other games, which include action role-playing games Darkfire heroes and colorful matching games Murders in small towns And sugar explosion. Sega’s current range of mobile games includes a variety of Sonic the Hedgehog running games and retro Genesis-era Sega games.
If the Sega-Rovio deal goes through, it would be another multi-billion dollar mobile game studio acquisition from a major game publisher. In 2021, Electronic Arts acquired Glu Mobile and Playdemic for $2.1 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively. In 2022, Take-Two Interactive spent a whopping $12.7 billion on Zynga. Microsoft hopes to complete the acquisition of Candy Crush Manufacturer King earlier this year as part of its $68.7 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard.
