UPDATED 10:10 EDT / JUNE 01 2011

Rovio Expands with Angry Birds TV, Acquisitions

Rovio is phenomenal. We’ve seen it conquering the mobile gaming arena with its Angry Birds title, hitting millions and millions of downloads in a relatively short period. This week, the gaming powerhouse takes yet another step to advance their stance and improve mobile gaming with the acquisition of Helsinki, Finland-based animation studio Kombo. Details of the deal were not disclosed but Kombo is expected to refocus their production on Rovio’s dynamics. The deal is an amalgamation of one of the Nordic region’s most talented animation studios with the most progressive global entertainment company.

Evidently, the acquisition aims at boosting the animation production capabilities of Rovio, committed on staying at the top of its industry as an animated entertainment dynamo. Kombo is known for its expertise in integrating playful creativity with traditional handcrafts, excellent technical skills and the latest technology, creating some of the world’s most unique media and art collections.

“We have had a long and fruitful relationship with Kombo in the past,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio. “This acquisition is an important step in the execution of our media strategy. The attitude, creativity and quality of Kombo’s work is simply fantastic, and we look forward to delighting our fans with more Kombo animations.”

We can expect Rovio to be making more acquisitions in the future and expanding in all areas of entertainment business. They’d likely be targeting animated entertainment and application development talents such as Kombo.

“We are very excited to be a part of Rovio. Now we have the possibility to create bigger productions to a very wide and global audience,” says Ilmari Hakkola, president of Kombo.

Tackling other recent Rovio developments, it partnered with Roku, internet-connected box that you hook up to your TV, to bring Angry Birds to your TV sets. “Angry Birds is the most popular and fastest growing casual game yet it has been trapped on mobile devices. We believe there’s a huge market for games like these on the TV,” said Roku founder Anthony Wood.

Angry Birds hit 200 million downloads, and according to Distimo and Newzoo statistcis, half of all download on iOS are games, and it even got a spot at Guinness as the most “top paid-for app store game in most countries.” With its success, Rovio is now prepping for an IPO, which we can expect to materialize in two years, or three. Angry Birds is also speculated to be the next icon to follow in the footsteps of Mickey Mouse, Disney’s widely popular character reigning for decades.


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