After endless rumors, SEGA’s acquisition of Rovio Entertainment is finally official. Earlier this week, the official announcement was that the company is expanding its European gaming arm. However, SEGA Sammy Group’s goal in making this 770 million euro acquisition goes beyond that; it also intends to grow significantly in the mobile market.
Despite having more than 20 years of accumulating experience and providing many video games, Rovio’s opportunity came with the rise of smartphones and a simple idea, but very successful. Of course, we are talking about the biggest success of the company Angry Birds, which quickly went from being a video game to a worldwide phenomenon. Angry Birds transcended to the big screen, reaching animated movies and endless merchandising. It is now a globally known brand; however, with the acquisition of SEGA, Rovio takes a different direction.
SEGA acquires Rovio
Sega has the clear objective of launching an expansion of the house of the supersonic hedgehog brands to cell phones worldwide. So Rovio Entertainment will join SEGA’s successful European arm. In addition, one of the main focuses of the deal is Beacon, the invention, optimization, and broadcasting platform.
SEGA executives have commented that by utilizing Rovio’s expertise in running live-service mobile games, they will bring their existing developer games to the international mobile gaming sector. Furthermore, they claim that with the acquisition of Rovio, SEGA has a very large potential to access many users.
In addition, SEGA executives say that Rovio’s Beacon platform reflects the excellent work they have been doing for 20 years. Beacon demonstrates the company’s success in exporting mobile games focused on European and U.S. audiences.
Rovio Entertainment Oyjの買収について
～モバイルゲーム領域の強化を通じたコンシューマ事業のグローバル展開の加速～SEGA to Acquire Rovio Entertainment Oyj
~ Global Expansion of the Consumer Business through Enhancement of Mobile Gaming Capabilities ~https://t.co/ICxRH6uuQK— セガ公式アカウント🦔 (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) April 17, 2023
Rovio’s growth in 2022
Despite Rovio’s licenses, such as Sugar Blas, Phoenix Rangers, and Small Town Murderers, the company’s growth was lower than expected by the end of 2022. However, it is important to keep in mind that revenues are largely sustained thanks to merchandising under the pillar of the Angry Birds saga. We are talking about the company billing revenues in the millions with Angry Birds.
With the unanimous support and vote of Rovio’s shareholders, SEGA has initiated acquisition proceedings for the Finnish company after a weekend in which the move was anticipated. As a result, SEGA is expected to have the entire acquisition in place by May 8.
In any case, SEGA is looking to expand into the Western market and hopes to launch new iterations of its games for the mobile sector. But, for now, we must wait to see what SEGA offers to the entire community of mobile gaming fans.