Sega will soon acquire Rovio, the company behind the Angry Birds games for $775 million, according to Polygon news. Earlier last week, The Wall Street Journal flagged the deal as close to completion, predicting a higher price tag.
One big reason Sega is delving into this deal is to strengthen its position in the mobile gaming market, and to use Rovio’s expertise to bring some of Sega’s intellectual property to mobile in a major way.
The advantage
According to Polygon, Sega claimed that it expects mobile gaming to grow to 56 percent of the overall gaming market by 2026. Rovio’s knowledge in the live service mobile game operation will be of much benefit to Sega, as it tries to bring its current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market. It’s targeting the huge audience and the large potential this deal will achieve.
Acquisition spree grips the video game industry
Sega will also assist in making possible the expansion of Rovio products outside of mobile gaming and launching its games on other platforms. The move is one of the recent examples of acquisition spree that has gripped the video game industry, says Polygon. The trend is sure to grow in coming years, though it has slowed for a few years passed.
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With this ongoing, Angry Birds and Sonic the Hedgehog may come to movie theaters soon to the delight of fans.
Two recent examples of acquisitions are the Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie and the more recent Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquiring of Blizzard.
It appears that Sega’s interest in Rovio is due to the fact that the original 2009 Angry Birds was one of the earliest smash hit games on smartphones, as it became a foundation of a sprawling franchise of casual physics puzzle games. Because Rovio has struggled to get out of the Angry Birds business, Sega seemingly making that a lot easier for the company.