Sega Completes Purchase of Rovio Entertainment

Sega has successfully completed the purchase of the Finnish studio Rovio Entertainment Oyj, famous for the developer of the popular game Angry Birds. According to an official statement announced on August 18, 2023, the transaction amounted to a significant €706 million.

In April 2023, Sega offered Rovio Entertainment Oyj $776 million (€706 million) for the purchase. Rovio’s board of directors supported the deal and recommended that shareholders vote in favor of it. The shareholders of Rovio have given their consent to this transaction.

“Among the fast-growing gaming market, mobile games have particularly high potential, and Sega’s long-term goal is to expand in this area,” Sega CEO Haruki Satomi told the media.  Earlier media reported that Sega was ready to pay $ 1 billion for Rovio, but this was unofficial information.

Rovio’s original Angry Birds was the first mobile game to reach 1 billion downloads, a Guinness World Record achievement.  Rovio said its total game library reached 5 billion downloads as of last year.

Sega also claims that Rovio Entertainment is looking to go beyond mobile games, and the Japanese will help them with this.

The publisher acquired the developers of Angry Birds for $776 million, although it was originally expected that the amount would reach a billion.