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Angry Birds devs reveal next game: Amazing Alex

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:00:00 EST

Hot on the heels of its big franchise's 1 billionth download, Angry Birds developer Rovio is introducing its next title: "Amazing Alex." Rovio head Mikael Hed told Finnish television about the game, revealing it to be based on the recently acquired "Casey's Contraptions" property, previously owned by Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut.

The only information about Amazing Alex thus far identifies it as part education tool, part game, featuring a boy named - you guessed it - Alex, "who loves to build." If we're going by what we've seen in Casey's Contraptions, Amazing Alex will create Rube Goldberg-esque machines to complete a variety of objectives. Take a look for yourself (at Casey's Contraptions) just below the break.

Hed told the Finnish station that "quality pressure is high" internally for Rovio's next project, especially in light of recent Angry Birds milestones. "We want to maintain the high standard Angry Birds fans have come to enjoy." Platforms and a release date for Amazing Alex are currently unknown.

[Image above is of Casey's Contraptions, not Amazing Alex.]

Continue reading Angry Birds devs reveal next game: Amazing Alex

Angry Birds devs reveal next game: Amazing Alex originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Angry Birds earned Rovio quite a bit of chicken scratch in 2011

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:05:00 EST

The Angry Birds are quite a catch, it seems. Franchise creator Rovio announced this morning that earnings in 2011 topped $100 million, which it owes solely to sales of the Angry Birds franchise. "The heavy investments made in 2011 to all business areas will be seen in future products," Rovio CEO Mikael Hed noted in the press release. "To ensure continuous success we need to be creative and stay focused on entertaining our millions of fans by continuously developing new and innovative products and services." The company earned approximately $67.6 million in pre-tax profit in 2011, or about 64 percent of total revenue.

Hed doesn't necessarily mean branching out from his company's most popular franchise, of course. Especially not after such a big year for merchandising surrounding the Angry Birds - Rovio's "consumer products" unit took in "about 30 percent" of 2011's total earnings (approximately $31.9 million). That's a lot of Angry Birds gummy snacks!

Rovio's $106.3 million in revenue (not profit, mind you, but revenue) is owed primarily to growth in the Finnish company's Angry Birds games catalog, which expanded by just one game in 2011: a movie tie-in named "Angry Birds Rio." The games have been downloaded approximately 648 million times across all platforms as of Dec. 31, 2011, and have a monthly user base of approximately 200 million.

[Image credit: Flickr user 'Nearsoft']

Continue reading The Angry Birds earned Rovio quite a bit of chicken scratch in 2011

The Angry Birds earned Rovio quite a bit of chicken scratch in 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 May 2012 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How Rovio CEO's grandparents saved the space program... wait...

Jessica Conditt — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:18:00 EST

Before Apollo 11 made history by successfully shuttling the first humans to the moon in 1969, the space program was in desperate financial condition and President John F. Kennedy had his grandparents mortgage their apartment for the money to keep NASA running. Er, no -- we're getting our stories mixed up here.

The bit about the grandparents mortgaging their home to keep a company running is actually the story behind Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds. Rovio was mainly backed by CEO Mikael Hed's dad and it hadn't produced a hit in years before Angry Birds; it was Hed's dad who proposed the family-mortgage plan.

"He told me that he wanted to mortgage my grandparents' flat so he could put some more money in the company to keep it afloat," Hed told All Things D. "That was pretty tough. I certainly did not want to be the person responsible for putting my grandparents on the street."

Hed doesn't have to worry about that now, as Angry Birds is a smash (HA!) hit and Rovio is valued at more than $6 billion. The next game from Rovio is Angry Birds Space, due out for iOS, Android, PC and Mac on March 22, and whose out-of-this-world adorable trailer you can view above.

How Rovio CEO's grandparents saved the space program... wait... originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ex-Marvel Studios head becomes 'special advisor' at Angry Birds studio

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:30:00 EST

The man responsible for the sale of Marvel Entertainment to Disney, as well as for producing a string of Hollywood blockbusters based on Marvel properties, is now a "special advisor" for Angry Birds creator Rovio. David Maisel left his successful position as the chairman of Marvel Studios after just two years on the job to work with Rovio on building "the company's entertainment strategy." He'll be helping the Finnish studio expand into "new areas in the entertainment business," and will also head up any future Angry Birds films as executive producer, in part reprising his role at Marvel Studios.

"I'm very honored and excited to join Rovio ... and the franchise potential of Angry Birds give Rovio the most exciting prospects I have seen in the entertainment business since Marvel in 2003," Maisel overextends in the press release announcing his job appointment. "We welcome his experience and vision as we continue broadening our entertainment production scope at Rovio," CEO Mikael Hed adds, returning the back scratching.

Corporate steam blowing aside, we can't help but wonder how Maisel can compare Rovio's one (admittedly very, very popular) property -- Angry Birds -- with Marvel's decades old stable of properties, but then we're also not special advisors to Rovio.

Ex-Marvel Studios head becomes 'special advisor' at Angry Birds studio originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Angry Birds being flung to Facebook

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:45:00 EST

Rovio's continued success with the Angry Birds franchise means we'll be seeing much more from the Finland-based devs in the coming months -- the company says it's taking a "Disney 2.0" approach to fleecing its bird-flinging franchise. "Look at how Disney got started. Steamboat Willie created Mickey Mouse, then they added more characters. You can see the same pattern today, but everything is happening much, much faster," studio lead Mikael Hed explains in a recent Wired UK piece (via Develop), adding, "Other brands used to build recognition over the course of decades. We've done it in one year."

A "collaborative" Facebook version of the game, as well as potential sports and driving spin-offs, are specifically named. Hed says the Facebook version will have "completely new aspects to it that just haven't been experienced in any other platform," and that "the pigs will have a more prominent role." No word is given on when the game will launch on the 'book.

This is, of course, in addition to the planned XBLA, Wii, and 3DS versions (it's already out on PSN). There's also a board game. And merchandise. And ... uhh ... this terrifying live-action version.

Angry Birds being flung to Facebook originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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