A Flying Mobile Milestone: Angry Birds Hits 30M on Android
Game development firm Rovio announced that its phenomenal mobile game “Angry Birds” has hit the 30 million download mark. The game was said to be the major offering that’s yielding the company with most remarkable results (you don’t say?). The landmark was attained with the help of its ad-supported free versions on the Android platform, because who doesn’t like playing games for free?
Its success really speaks to the scalability of the cloud, and the ability for mobile gaming to revolutionize a new market. Rovio has demonstrated the perks of mobile software distribution, leveraging one platform after another, seeing great success on a large scale.
Another significant statistic about this milestone, as noted by CEO Peter Vesterbacka at GDC, was that 80% of downloaders actually came back for updates. This suggests that people continues playing after the download. Due to its popularity, Angry Birds is invading Facebook too, and will have a 3D version of it soon. It will hit Windows Phone 7 as well.
Rovio closely collaborated with 20th Century Fox to create the animated movie Rio, which is basically an Angry Birds movie. A Saint Patrick’s Day version of the game is also set to roll out on March 22 and was described by Vesterback as “very green.” This new expansion pack will be added to its Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Halloween levels under the Angry Bird Seasons banner.
Bing also made a rather interesting move, partnering with Rovio. The collaboration will facilitate Angry Birds players as they level with the help of tools such as Bing Image Search, Bing Maps, and Bing Shopping. Angry Birds is really phenomenal to even get Rovio himself to retweet a declaration of mobile entrepreneur Jan Ole Suhr noting that the only hope Nokia has of surviving their future with Microsoft is to make sure Rovio creates a version of Angry Birds compatible with Windows Phone 7. Now where’s the OUCH button?
Other things going on in the mobile gaming sector– Glu Mobile Inc. announced at GDC that its Gun Bros got over 6.8 million total downloads, 5.5 million from iOS and 1.5 million froe got 4.4 million from Android, while it’s Deer Hunter Challenge got 4.4 million downloads on iOS. Mobile developer Qualcomm inked a deal with Gameloft to offer mobile versions of popular Gameloft titles such as SpiderMan Total Mayhem HD and Real Football 2011 HD. EA will also launch Dragon Age Legends on Facebook and mobile at the same time, a move which doesn’t happen much.
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