Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Sega Sammy annexed the game development company Angry Birds, Rovio. The company that owns the game Sonic spent US$ 776 million.
According to Engadget, News of Sega’s acquisition of Rovio has been circulating since April. Sony finally succeeded in capturing Rovio after going through various regulatory hurdles.
Sega’s goal of annexing Rovio was to strengthen the company’s position in the mobile game industry, even though Rovio’s flagship Angry Birds is no longer as popular as it used to be.
However, it turns out that Rovio has another hero besides Angry Birds. Other games made by Rovio such as Sugar Blast and Small Town Murders were also successful and popular.
Additionally, the acquisition of Rovio provides Sega with a strong infrastructure to enter the mobile game development, publishing and advertising business. This means that Sega can quickly create various mobile game titles utilizing its intellectual property rights such as Sonic, Football Manager and Persona.
The Japanese game giant also has hundreds of old games that previously could only be played on consoles or arcade machines (dingdong) which can be converted into mobile games.
Sega CEO Haruki Satomi stated in April, “the mobile game market has very high potential, it is Sega’s long-term goal to accelerate expansion in this area.”
Sega also seems to be continuing to make mobile Angry Birds games. Apart from games, Angry Birds also has film projects, TV series and a restaurant in New York.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
(dem/dem)