Rovio confirms discussions with SEGA about possible acquisition of Angry Birds maker

Rovio Entertainment confirms that the Finnish studio behind the Angry Birds franchise is in talks with SEGA about a possible acquisition by the Japanese gaming company. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the deal may be worth $1 billion.

Rovio said in a statement that there is ‘no certainty when the potential takeover bid will take place or whether it will take place at all’. The Wall Street Journal said earlier that the deal between Rovio Entertainment and SEGA Sammy Holdings could be completed early next week, according to insiders. A takeover offer of $1 billion is said to be on the table. Both Rovio and SEGA have not released any concrete information about the possible acquisition and say they will release more information in due course.

In February, Rovio announced to start a strategic investigation and non-binding discussions about a possible takeover bid for shares of the Angry Birds maker. Previously, Rovio also held takeover talks with the Israeli Playtika, including one bid was made for 738 million dollars. In 2017, Chinese tech company Tencent reportedly made a $3 billion takeover bid for Rovio.

The original Angry Birds game was released in 2009, after which the The franchise’s popularity dwindled around 2014. Over the years, several spin-offs of the mobile game have been released, as well as Angry Birds 2. A film adaptation followed in 2016, which became a great success in terms of ticket sales. The second adaptation from 2019 did not receive the same success. Rovio recently removed the original Angry Birds game from the Google Play Store. The iOS version received a name change to Red’s First Flight, reportedly to give other Angry Birds games more of a chance.

Angry Birds 2. Image: Rovio