The creators of Angry Birds continue to move from a gaming company to an entertainment company.
Gamasutra shared the names of three new Rovio executive directors who will expand Rovio’s non-gaming business. They were Randy Spieker, who was previously involved in the development of HYBRID JEM LLC (sews for LEVI’S and Reebok), Joe Lawson, who was responsible for promoting the company’s products on the international market at DreamWorks Animation for more than four years, and Paul Bufton, former CEO of Warner Bros. Consumer Products UK.
The appointments are quite understandable, given three points:
- Rovio’s desire not to depend on the highly risky mobile gaming market;
- Absence of unambiguous game hits among new projects;
- Success in the field of promotion of the Angry Birds brand.
In addition, Rovio announced plans to shift the focus from mobile development not yesterday. Along with it (in terms of priority) are now animation and video distribution, not to mention the sale of goods “based on motives”.
The question is, how much will the shift to the “entertainment industry” affect the development of the company’s mobile projects? What, in general, can we expect from Rovio today? Will it turn out that, in the case of the commercial success of the Angry Birds cartoon, the games will become for the company only one of the channels to promote their IP?
A source: http://www.gamasutra.com