Why did Sega buy Rovio?
On April 17, Sega announced plans to acquire Rovio, the Finnish studio behind the hugely popular Angry Birds series, in a deal worth €706 million.
It's the latest example of a long-standing console and PC publisher trying to establish a foothold in the lucrative but highly competitive mobile gaming market, following Take-Two's $12.7 billion purchase of Zynga, Electronic Arts' $2.1 billion acquisition of Glu Mobile and Microsoft's ongoing attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard, which owns Candy Crush creator King.
But in the case of Sega and Rovio, there's more to the new partnership, as the leadership of both firms discussed during a press conference at Rovio's Helsinki headquarters yesterday.
Sega Sammy Holdings president and CEO Haruki Satomi revealed that discussions between his company and Rovio actually began in June, almost one year ago. Initially, discussions centred around business opportunities for the two parties to work together but later evolved into acquisition talks.
"I believe the success of The Super Mario Bros Movie should accelerate the transmedia trend of game IPs"
While other parties have expressed interest in buying Rovio – including Israel-based mobile publisher Playtika – the Angry Birds firm's chairman of the board Kim Ignatius said that throughout discussions with Sega, he "always felt there was a strong potential in this combination."
At the beginning of 2023, the Rovio board conducted a strategic review of all the options – including offers from other parties and retaining independence.
"During this process, it became quick clear that Sega and Rovio would make a strong fit," said Ignatius. "There are synergies in several areas."
He added that the Rovio board is recommending this
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