Rovio Entertainment
 |
 |
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Espoo, Finland |
Key people | Mikael Hed, CEO |
Number of employees | 55 (2011)[1] |
| Website | www.rovio.com |
Rovio Mobile Ltd. or Rovio is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 2003 as Relude, and in 2005 renamed as Rovio, based in Espoo.[2] The company is best known for its game Angry Birds for smartphones.
Company history
In 2003, three students from Helsinki University of Technology (currently Aalto University School of Science and Technology), Niklas Hed, Jarno Väkeväinen, and Kim Dikert participated in a mobile game development competition at the Assembly demo party sponsored by Nokia and HP. A victory with a real-time multiplayer game called “King of the Cabbage World” compelled the trio to set up their own company, Relude. King of the Cabbage World was sold to Sumea (now Digital Chocolate), and renamed to Mole War, which became the first commercial real-time multiplayer mobile game in the world.
In January 2005, Relude received its first round of investment from a business angel, and the company changed its name to Rovio Mobile.[3]
In December 2009 Rovio released Angry Birds, a catapult-puzzle game for the iPhone. Angry Birds has since been downloaded over 42 million times, with paid downloads accounting for more than 25% of total downloads,[4] making it one of the most sold games in the App Store.
In March 2011 Rovio raised $42 million in Venture Capital Funding from Accel Partners, Atomico and Felicis Ventures.[5]
Games developed
- Angry Birds – iOS, N900 (2009), Palm webOS, Android, Symbian, Windows (2010), Mac OS X (2011)
- Bounce Evolution - N900 (2009)
- Bounce Tales - N-Gage (2009)
- Bounce Touch - N-Gage
- Bounce Boing Voyage - N-Gage (2008)
- Burger Rush - J2ME
- Burnout - J2ME (2007)
- Collapse Chaos - J2ME
- Cyber Blood - J2ME
- Darkest Fear - iOS (2009), J2ME (2005)
- Darkest Fear 2 - J2ME
- Darkest Fear 3 - J2ME
- Desert Sniper - J2ME (2006)
- Dragon & Jade - J2ME
- Formula GP Racing - J2ME
- Gem Drop - J2ME (2008)
- Marine Sniper - J2ME
- Mole War - J2ME
- Need for Speed: Carbon - J2ME (2006)
- Paid to Kill - J2ME
- Paper Planes - J2ME (2008)
- Patron Angel - J2ME
- Playman Winter Games - J2ME
- Shopping madness - J2ME (2008)
- Space Impact: Meteor Shield - N97, J2ME
- Star Marine - J2ME (2007)
- Sumea Ski Jump - J2ME
- Swat Elite Troops - J2ME
- US Marine Corps Scout Sniper - J2ME (2006)
- Totomi - iPhone, Flash, J2ME
- War Diary Burma - J2ME
- War Diary Torpedo - J2ME
- Wolfmoon - J2ME
- X-Factor 2008 - J2ME
References
- ^ "Number of employees". Talouselämä. 2011-03-18. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "Rovio - Contact". Rovio. 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ^ Rovio company webpage
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Angry Birds Turn Rich, Get $42 Million in Funding". Mashable. March 10, 2011.