SEGA, a prominent Japanese multinational video game and entertainment corporation, is allegedly approaching a deal to buy Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish company that created the popular Angry Birds mobile game, for a sum close to $1 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. If the ongoing discussions proceed smoothly and without delay, the acquisition could be completed as soon as next week.
Launched in 2009, Angry Birds set the standard for mobile gaming during the early smartphone era. In the game, players utilize a slingshot to propel birds over, under, and around obstacles to defeat green pigs that are trying to steal their eggs. Rovio reported last year that its game catalog had reached an impressive milestone of 5 billion downloads, with Angry Birds being the first mobile game to amass 1 billion downloads.
Update by Stephen Totilo of Axios:
Despite the phenomenal success of Angry Birds, Rovio has found it challenging to reproduce the same level of achievement with its subsequent releases. This has left the company susceptible to acquisition by a larger industry player, especially as its once-dominant franchise faces growing competition from more recent entrants in the market.
With its headquarters in Shinagawa, Tokyo, SEGA operates international branches in Irvine, California, and London. The corporation has developed several highly successful game franchises, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, and Yakuza. Although SEGA is celebrated for its ingenuity and innovation in the video game sector, it has encountered criticism in recent years for its strategic decisions and the standard of its creative work.
Rovio Entertainment, established in 2003 by Helsinki University of Technology students Niklas Hed, Jarno Väkeväinen, and Kim Dikert, is situated in Espoo, Finland, and maintains studios in Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Montreal.
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