Sega is planning to buy Angry Bird creator Rovio Entertainment

Japan’s gaming company “Sega Sammy Holdings,” which created the “Sonic the Hedgehog” mascot, has agreed to purchase the company “Finland-based Rovio Entertainment,” which makes the “Angry Birds” video game. The company is paying €706m (£625m) for Rovio Entertainment

The owner of the company said Angry Bird was the first mobile game that reached one million downloads; the company also made two Angry Bird movies.

But Rovio hasn’t yet created a sequel that’s as successful.

Because of this, larger gaming industry corporations considered it a potential takeover target.

Around 550 people work for the company, which has eight-game studios worldwide, and it claimed last year that five billion downloads of its library of games had been made.

Sega claimed that the necessity to “strengthen its position” in the international gaming business was what led to its choice to acquire Rovio.

By 2026, this market is estimated to reach a value of $263.3 billion, with mobile gaming accounting for 56% of that growth.

Sega stated that it will utilise Rovio’s “distinctive knowledge in live service mobile game operations” to assist in introducing its own current and upcoming titles to the international mobile gaming market.

In particular, it drew attention to Rovio’s Beacon mobile gaming platform, which the company said had “20 years of advanced knowledge in live service mobile game operation” in the US and Europe.

Sega has long-term goals to accelerate its progress in this area, according to Haruki Satomi, CEO of Sega Sammy Holdings. “Among the rapidly expanding global gaming markets, the mobile gaming market has the greatest potential,” he stated.

Rovio’s revenues climbed from €272.3m to €317.7m in 2022, but its operating earnings decreased over that time from €42.5m to €28.6m.

Sega Sammy, a Japan-based holding corporation, was created in 2004 when Sega and Sammy Corporation merged.

Sega is well-known worldwide for its Sonic the Hedgehog character, who has also appeared in two films and has created a number of multi-million dollars video game franchises.

Sammy creates and markets gaming arcade devices.