Angry Birds developer raises $42 million

Angry Birds developer Rovio raises $42M from investors and names Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstroem to its board.

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Hardcore gamers can bemoan the success of Angry Birds all they want, but that hasn't stopped Finnish developer Rovio from securing $42M in investor capital during a recent funding round. (via Reuters)

In addition to securing another heaping mountain of 'seed' money (excuse the pun), Rovio also announced the appointment of Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstroem to its board of directors. The latest round of funding was co-led by Accel Partners - who previously helped secure funding for companies like Facebook and Admob - and Rovio intends to use the new funding to leverage Angry Birds into a "fully fledged entertainment brand."

"This investment will give Rovio wings," Zennstroem said.

The company is hoping that Rovio's new wings - constructed from the fresh 42 million feathers - will help Angry Birds break the 100-million downloads mark. It seems a reasonable goal, considering that the game has already been downloaded more than seventy-five million times, and is played by forty million of those users on a monthly basis.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 10, 2011 5:00 PM

    Comment on Angry Birds developer raises $42 million, by Jeff Mattas.

    • reply
      March 10, 2011 5:02 PM

      what the hell are they gonna do with that cash, and why did they even take it, they have close to 50mm from their apps don't they?

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        March 10, 2011 5:02 PM

        [deleted]

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          March 10, 2011 5:06 PM

          If you want to continue growing super fast, you should get funding while your company is peaking in popularity and profitability.

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            March 10, 2011 8:48 PM

            Exactly. Strike while the iron's hot. Tiny Wings seems to have dethroned AB for a couple weeks, so they better get moving.

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          March 10, 2011 7:28 PM

          why not?

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        March 10, 2011 5:10 PM

        50 million in revenue - ???? cost = Actual profit

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        March 10, 2011 5:29 PM

        Angry Birds:The Movie

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          March 10, 2011 5:35 PM

          Angry Birds: Rio

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            March 10, 2011 6:31 PM

            Angry Birds: The Flamethrower!!!!

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              March 10, 2011 7:31 PM

              Angry Birds : Rome 234.

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                March 10, 2011 9:02 PM

                Cooking with Angry Birds
                Angry Birds Band
                Super Angry Birds World
                Angry Birds Teach C++
                A Very Special Angry Birds Christmas Telethon
                Two Pigs with One Bird: Management the Angry Birds Way
                Hog White and the Seven Angry Birds

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                March 11, 2011 12:12 PM

                [deleted]

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        March 10, 2011 9:03 PM

        [deleted]

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        March 10, 2011 9:09 PM

        Their office is going to be awash in hookers and blow for quite some time. Who'd turn down free money anyways?

        But in all seriousness they'll probably use it expand and make new games which is great for gaming on my phone.

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      March 10, 2011 7:26 PM

      It's hard to say on what OS this game did the best on and I assume if it was mostly on the Android market. It probably wasn't hard to get some numbers due to the pure amount of shit that stinks up the Android market currently. When you have a weak sauce market place and have something that outshines a turd, you don't have much competition.

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      March 10, 2011 9:03 PM

      "Hardcore gamers" are bemoaning the success of Angry Birds? I guess this is news to me.

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        March 10, 2011 9:04 PM

        A slap to the face

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        March 10, 2011 9:24 PM

        I don't bemoan it, I just don't understand it. I thought it was incredibly boring to play, even for a touch phone game. Why it has become this phenomenon I don't think I'll ever be able to comprehend.

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          March 11, 2011 10:03 AM

          It's simple to learn, cutesy, takes very little time commitment to play, has a ton of content for $2, appeals to 3 year olds and ocd 30 year olds alike. Is it REALLY that hard to see why people might like it?

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        March 11, 2011 9:57 AM

        Obviously your just not hardcore enough.

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        March 11, 2011 10:03 AM

        Anything that gets people playing games other than Farmville is fine by me.

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        March 11, 2011 12:29 PM

        Self proclaimed hardcore gamers hate when people that aren't self proclaimed hardcore gamers find enjoyment from a videogame. It doesn't matter how simple or complex it is, if a game resonates with anyone less hardcore than them, they will shit on it.

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          March 11, 2011 1:59 PM

          I think it's a bigger issue than "haters gonna hate." Many hardcore gamers still see casual games (with low cost to dev and high profit margin) as a threat to hardcore AAA games which are orders of magnitude higher cost/time investment to develop.

          Why would anyone bother making a huge AAA titles (particularly RPGs like Elder Scrolls, Fallout, with huge breadth and depth of gameplay), when you can make Angry Birds and roll in the cash?

          Of course the demographics that play each may not even overlap much. I also like to think there's some integrity left in the industry though, that games are art and hardcore games will always be made for the sake of it. I understand the thinking that casual games will kill hardcore games though.

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            March 11, 2011 2:01 PM

            i don't see the distinction any more

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            March 11, 2011 2:04 PM

            it's not an either-or thing though. there's clearly still an audience for FPS PC games, so as long as there's a market it's going to be viable business. you just need to properly adjust. plus there's the matter of purely making stuff because there are people who want to make it and people who will buy it. the audience for making an artsy-fartsy movie is significantly smaller than the audience that will go see Transformers 3, but that doesn't mean every studio will try and make Transformers 3.

            and you can also see examples of shifts in how games are made. for instance small-scale, 2D platformers became less viable to make as AAA games but it's still totally possible to make one with a small team (as small as one or two guys) with modest funding and come out on top. adventure games became less viable in the late 90s but Telltale figured out a way to make them profitable. and so on.

            thinking casual games are a threat to anything is kind of silly. there will obviously always be a much bigger market for Angry Birds and whathaveyou but it won't make people suddenly stop making awesome games. they just need to figure out how to make it work.

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            March 11, 2011 2:06 PM

            AAA titles will always have a place. The $70M that AB made is basically the change in the seat cushions over at the COD studios.

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      March 10, 2011 9:29 PM

      Good for him and his crew.

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      March 11, 2011 2:46 PM

      Is there anything "hardcore gamers" don't bemoan?

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        March 11, 2011 2:52 PM

        Valve... except for L4D2... and episode 3... oh and Blizzard! except for Diablo 3's color scheme...

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          March 11, 2011 2:53 PM

          so to answer your original question: no

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        March 11, 2011 2:55 PM

        Part of being a hardcore gamer is bitching about everything. They're not happy unless they're miserable.

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      March 12, 2011 11:20 PM

      I love you, Angry Birds developers!

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      March 13, 2011 10:17 AM

      As a "hardcore" gamer...I enjoy this game. Its simple cute fun...its not some amazing revolution in gameplay and it doesn't need to be. Being a hardcore gamer doesn't mean looking for things to be annoyed by.

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        March 13, 2011 10:22 AM

        Also, not every game needs to be what *you* want or what *I* want...and not every game is taking money away from all the other games. Angry Birds isn't taking the money out of your pocket that you'd spend on the next Quakeworld (someone needs to make the next Quakeworld by the way...I realize I'm dreaming, but hey) or the next Elder Scrolls. If Halo didn't ruin the FPS (though I want another Quake dammit), AB won't ruin gaming as a whole.

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      June 6, 2011 7:52 AM

      yes that is true . You can also see the developers here http://www.angrybirdstips.net

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