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Companies in the same industry are often competing, working together, or merging in the name of common interests. There’s already the Microsoft and Bethesda deal, the ongoing fight to acquire Activision Blizzard, and now, there is one more blockbuster deal that is in the process. It seems that Japanese gaming stalwart Sega is set to buy Rovio Entertainment, the folks behind Angry Birds, for a cool US$1 billion.
This is according to The Wall Street Journal, with the report stating that the deal is targeted to be wrapped up early next week.
On observation, it definitely seems like a curious deal to make for Sega, especially considering that Rovio’s products are not exactly leading the popularity charts. Its highest peak came in 2014 following the debut of Angry Birds back in 2009, but results have been trending downward ever since.
As the competition in the mobile gaming space heated up, Rovio also made some moves to distance itself from its original model of selling games once and permanently to players. The removal of the original game from the Google Play Store as well as the renaming of the iOS version to Red’s First Flight were moves made to shift players over to the freemium sequels instead.
The Sega deal for Rovio follows after recent discussions of an US$8 million deal for Israeli developer Playtika to acquire the Angry Birds company. However, those talks never came to fruition. Now, it seems that Sega is stepping in and dropping some serious cash, and the mobile space might be changing yet again.
Jake is a full-time trophy hunter and achievement gatherer on consoles, and part-time Steam Sale victim. He has a thing for Batman and awesome statues, and running out of space for both. Send help.
Si Jia
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