Sega Set to Buy ‘Angry Birds’ Studio Rovio to Improve Its Mobile Division

Sega is buying Angry Birds developer Rovio in a bid to extend its mobile gaming prowess—among other merchandising improvements.

An acquisition of Rovio Entertainment on the part of Sega Corporation has officially begun as of today, with the former offering approximately €706 million for outstanding shares and options. It's a calculated move that the home of the blue hedgehog believes will help both companies expand their respective fanbases with more multimedia opportunities.

"Joining Rovio has been an honour and I am proud to have seen Angry Birds continue to grow, as we released new games, series, and films," said Rovio CEO, Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, in the press release, "Less known but equally impressive is our industry-leading proprietary technology platform, Beacon, holding 20 years of expertise, allowing tight-knit teams to develop world-class GaaS [Games as a Service] products."

It's that Beacon platform that Sega is expressing much of its interest in, stating that "... there is large potential, and many users can be accessed." Rovio's Angry Birds series is still extremely popular on smartphones, so it's understandable that Sega would want to leverage that experience and infrastructure for its mobile titles.

For its part, Rovio is also projected to push out of the mobile games space—with Sega providing support—though we have seen several mad avians on other platforms in the past.

While a formal offer has been made, and both companies are on board, the acquisition isn't expected to take full effect until sometime in the second Quarter of 2024. So we're unlikely to see any Sonic the Hedgehog and Angry Birds crossovers for at least another year or two.