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Angry Birds passes 30 million downloads on Android

by JC Fletcher on Mar 3rd 2011 4:00PM

Turns out people like Angry Birds -- and free things. The freemium Android release of Rovio Mobile's wing-slinging hit has been downloaded over 30 million times, according to Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka, who is speaking at GDC as part of a Google-run Android monetization panel.

He also provided evidence that people continue playing Angry Birds after that initial download. 80 percent of Android users, Vesterbacka said, downloaded subsequent updates, indicating that they've retained interest in the game. This is good news for Rovio, but bad news for those birds -- sustained anger isn't good for you.

Tags: android, angry-birds, downloads, free-to-play, gdc-2011, mobile, peter-vesterbacka, rovio-mobile

Reader Comments (30)

Now they can afford some anger management

What about the pigs? :( Pig = no love

Because its free.

Still playing. They keep updating that game and Seasons.. I can't escape.

"Lolz android is dumb cause you cant play games u can't even played angry birds lololo"

This person still exists, if you see any kill them. Thanks.

"80 percent of Android users, Vesterbacka said, downloaded subsequent updates, indicating that they've retained interest in the game."
Are we taking into account the "update automatically" option?

@theWillard Angry Birds Seasons is a completely different game.

@theWillard The past few updates have been 'Manual Update Required', so that's a good call, but not appropriate considering the past few updates.

@Ellimem Accidentally deleted my next sentence.

Maybe they mean that as part of retaining interest?

@theWillard Well, you will still have to manually switch the "update automatically" button.

Not all apps update automatically when downloaded.

@theWillard That button is unchecked by default.

i downloaded angry birds, but rarely play it. i update it b/c i press the "update all" button and its included in that..and i like to have everything on my phone updated just in case, so the "downloaded update = interest" isnt always true

@BLipp18 same here...I thought they were getting stats from it sending back stats or something in the background while its playing....

I've updated it 3 or 4 times and haven't played it since the first week I downloaded it months ago

@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi You may not play it much but you haven't deleted it.

@gwangi cause I dont delete anything unless it is harmful to my device or its huge and I need space....for instance...I'm down to 222GBs on the 640GB HDD I have in my PS3...on my iPhone I have well over 300 apps....most I ever really used on a regular basis was like 40....on my Captivate I have over 140 apps...only use about 50 of them...

With all those ads they have floating down at the bottom, they're also making a huge killing. They deserve it. Bring on more Birds!

@LaughingTarget
Yeah, it's not really 'freemium', it's ad-supported. Well... I guess a bit of both, since you can still buy the level pass thing, iirc.

I don't really understand how that kind of advertising is good value for any company (since, you know, I played Angry Birds for a bit and it must have showed like a thousand ads, but certainly nothing I had any interest in, intend to purchase, or can remember). But, hey, that probably applies to pretty much all advertising of any kind, so I guess it must work... somehow.

30 million? well damn....

Two of those are mine. I had to redownload. So, please update the article. Thanks.

@waterhand

If you got it from the Android market, it doesn't count it multiple times. All downloads get tagged to your account so it's unlikely that deleting it and reinstalling it triggers another download count.

@waterhand
I'm sure they have a way of filtering out multiple downloads from one google account though... At least I hope they do.

I thought we agreed no more angry birds posts...

@Acosta02 Iets take a vote, my vote is yes to no more angry birds post.

@Acosta02
I, for one, welcome our fowl overlords.

i still dont get it....whats so good about it?

@shadowhowl1900 It's a time-waster. People play it when they have their iPhone (or other mobile device) and nothing else to do. There's nothing particularly bad bad about it, or at least I don't think so. It's just a nice game to have when you got something you're waiting, and for me, that's waiting on console games to install 5 updates before I can play.

@My Prerogative
That applies to any mobile phone game. It's a good thing developers are trying to change that...or is it...?

Meh, multiple downloads for a freebie is not that impressive. It is a well known fact that paid apps on Android do poorly. Where is the stat for that?

Had my sister download this yesterday. I'll take the prize for the 30 millionth download.

kthxbai

I actually hate that there's only a free version. The ads are actually in-game and get in the way sometimes. I'd pay 2 bucks or whatever for no ads.

Breaking News

Angry Birds

Angry Birds passes 30 million downloads on Android

Reader Comments (30)

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:03PM Rizraz said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:04PM Trogdorwhore said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:05PM mguniverse said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:06PM Ghen said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:08PM mrmojoz said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:08PM theWillard said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:22PM Ellimem said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:23PM mjanosko said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:23PM Ellimem said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:25PM commenter7 said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:26PM einhanderkiller said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:11PM BLipp18 said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:20PM Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:30PM gwangi said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:45PM Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:11PM LaughingTarget said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 5:14PM xxxsam said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:19PM Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:21PM waterhand said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:29PM LaughingTarget said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:30PM beano311 said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:24PM Acosta02 said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:34PM mmmfishtacos said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 4:38PM ipsum said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 5:05PM shadowhowl1900 said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 5:18PM My Prerogative said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 5:49PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 5:57PM MaulerX said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 5:58PM Marco le Polo said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 6:11PM Scape3d said

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