00-00 ROVIO AB (ANNIVERSARY).qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 17/04/2019 12:06 Page 5
10TH ANNIVERSARY
Away from the anniversary, Simo says that Rovio has the strongest content roadmap that Angry Birds has ever had. A highlight is, of course, The Angry Birds Movie 2, which releases in cinemas this summer, with Rovio believing that the interest generated from the sequel will act as an invaluable springboard for its upcoming brand activities. Simo continues: “We continue to invest and publish unique, high quality content on our Angry Birds YouTube channel (which has over 2.8m subscribers). A recently released example of this was Angry Birds On the Run, our first live-action serialised short-form content, and written/directed by the awesome Baker Terry. In 2020, our content strategy evolves further with the release of our first long-form animated series, supported by its own licensing program and published across different platforms globally.” In addition to this, there will also be more location-
based exhibitions. For example, Rovio recently partnered with Namco UK to announce Angry Birds indoor adventure golf attractions across the UK. “And expect some fun new ‘live show’ activations around the world,” teases Simo. “These are particularly exciting, as we’ve never introduced Angry Birds to such live-action entertainment forms until now.” As for the longer term future, Simo believes that Angry Birds is only just beginning. “It’s important to say though that ten years of history is nothing in the entertainment industry. Angry Birds as a brand has seen some exciting times over the last decade, but truly, this is only the beginning,” he concludes.
Game on
Gaming, of course, remains key to the further development of the Angry Birds franchise. Simo explains that Rovio is committed to launching at least two new games in 2019, starting with Angry Birds Dream Blast which is a tap-to-match puzzle game featuring the young flock. “If we consider our biggest game, Angry Birds 2, was released a couple of years ago now, our strategy to keep games fun/engaging and content-rich over a long period of time is really working well,” says Simo. “It’s not just about globally releasing a mobile game and focusing on the first week - it’s very much about taking a longer term view. Also, one of our strategic core pillars as a company is to invest in and investigate the future of gaming.” To this end, Rovio has been partnering with developers such as Resolution Games to bring Angry Birds to mixed reality (Magic Leap) and virtual reality (Oculus Rift, HTV Vive) over the past months. “This has been a great experience as the nature of the Angry Birds classic slingshot gameplay lends itself perfectly to extended reality formats,” Simo continues. In addition, to support the new movie and the accompanying licensing programme, Rovio will be launching a digital programme connected to a new Angry Birds AR application. “It will be an entertainment platform that connects physical products to the digital Angry Birds world in a cool way through AR,” says Simo. “It offers a safe environment for children and it is light and easy to download even on the go. The app will be featured through tens of millions of products' call to actions, providing amazing visibility for the programme. It’s not meant to be only for the movie though - we will continue supporting and developing it after the movie launch!”
05