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'Angry Birds' May be Heading Toward $1.2B Valuation
It cost just over €100,000 ($140,000) to develop but the infectiously popular mobile phone game Angry Birds looks set to earn its Finnish developer a billion-dollar stock market valuation 18 months after it sailed close to bankruptcy, reports suggested Friday.
The game, which pits a variety of enraged avian characters against egg-stealing green pigs, has emerged as the first blockbuster in the mobile phone gaming market. The characters have been turned into toys, feature on T-shirts, and now yearn to become Hollywood stars.
The squawks of the birds being catapulted at their helmet-wearing porcine nemeses emanate from millions of phones and tablet computers on buses and in parks across the world and the likes of David Cameron, Salman Rushdie, and Dick Cheney have admitted to being huge fans.
It is the most successful Finnish creative export since the Moomin books and potentially the country's most lucrative since Nokia ruled the cell phone market.
The game was developed by Rovio, which is in talks with a major entertainment company about an investment that would propel its worth to €842 million. Disney, Farmville-owner Zynga and Electronic Arts, which makes video games The Sims and Medal of Honor, are among the rumored bidders, according to Bloomberg.
Rovio developed 51 games before Angry Birds and was close to collapse in 2009 when its design team sketched the cartoon characters that would soon take on Mickey Mouse in popularity.
The game was launched on Google's social networking platform this week to appeal to more users.
The company has recently been exploring the prospect of a film as it expands outside the gaming sector. Rovio recently appointed David Maisel, the former chairman of Marvel Studios, to pursue its ambitions in Hollywood.
It cost just over €100,000 ($140,000) to develop but the infectiously popular mobile phone game Angry Birds looks set to earn its Finnish developer a billion-dollar stock market valuation 18 months after it sailed close to bankruptcy, reports suggested Friday.
The game, which pits a variety of enraged avian characters against egg-stealing green pigs, has emerged as the first blockbuster in the mobile phone gaming market. The characters have been turned into toys, feature on T-shirts, and now yearn to become Hollywood stars.
The squawks of the birds being catapulted at their helmet-wearing porcine nemeses emanate from millions of phones and tablet computers on buses and in parks across the world and the likes of David Cameron, Salman Rushdie, and Dick Cheney have admitted to being huge fans.
It is the most successful Finnish creative export since the Moomin books and potentially the country's most lucrative since Nokia ruled the cell phone market.
The game was developed by Rovio, which is in talks with a major entertainment company about an investment that would propel its worth to €842 million. Disney, Farmville-owner Zynga and Electronic Arts, which makes video games The Sims and Medal of Honor, are among the rumored bidders, according to Bloomberg.
Rovio developed 51 games before Angry Birds and was close to collapse in 2009 when its design team sketched the cartoon characters that would soon take on Mickey Mouse in popularity.
The game was launched on Google's social networking platform this week to appeal to more users.
The company has recently been exploring the prospect of a film as it expands outside the gaming sector. Rovio recently appointed David Maisel, the former chairman of Marvel Studios, to pursue its ambitions in Hollywood.
VERY NICE!!!