From left: Pandora's Tony Conrad, Rovio North America General Manager Andrew Stalbow. Photo: JP Mangalindan/Fortune
FORTUNE -- Angry Birds is the game franchise that just keeps on giving.
Some wonder whether the casual video game's popularity has peaked. Rovio's General Manager for North America, Andrew Stalbow, thinks otherwise. Today, Stalbow revealed that there have been 350 million Angry Birds downloads since the game's launch in December 2009. PLayers are putting in an astonishing 300 million minutes of gameplay -- every day. That's 150 million more downloads than when Fortune checked in on Rovio back in June and more than triple the number of downloads reported last March.
More surprising may be how big the merchandise side has become. As of last June, the company had sold three million plush toys, but now Stalbow says they're selling one million a month, in addition to selling one million t-shirts each month.
The news bodes well for Rovio, which is capitalizing on Angry Birds' success in every way possible, with more than 25 ways to get it across multiple platforms -- iOS, Android, Nook, Chrome Web app -- to talks of an Angry Birds movie that would likely be developed in-house thanks to the acquisition of Helsinki-based animation studio Kombo earlier this summer. On the subject of Amazon's (AMZN) reported Kindle tablet, due out later this year, Stalbow wouldn't confirm an app, but given the companies' close relationship -- the two collaborated on the exclusive distribution of Angry Birds Rio -- Rovio's presence on the new platform seems inevitable, sooner rather than later.
And as we'd previously reported, expect two new Angry Birds experiences by the end of the year with new kinds of gameplay entirely unlike the current crop using buzzy new features like geolocation, something the company is tinkering with to draw foot traffic to stores and restaurants. In other words, there's lots more to come.
Mobile games are just one wing of Rovio's plans for a global entertainment empire.
By Stacy Cowley, CNNMoney tech editor
FORTUNE -- Here's a fun stat: The 300 million players who have downloaded Rovio's Angry Birds games have flung more than 100 billion avians -- more birds than actually exist in the entire world.
"Our goal is to be the first brand with a billion fans," Peter "Mighty Eagle" Vesterbacka, Rovio's chief marketing officer, MORE
Jul 21, 2011 1:17 PM ET
Rovio has a blockbuster franchise just as notable for its flock of revenue streams as its wildly addictive game play.
FORTUNE -- You don't have to try very hard to spot Angry Birds in their natural habitat -- online -- because they are as ubiquitous as a Manhattan pigeon.
Since launching as an iPhone app in December 2009, the franchise has been downloaded 200 million times -- double the number reported just MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Jun 3, 2011 12:33 PM ET
Android Market's new competition will get a big name game at its opening.
Rovio has distributed an incredible 30 million copies of ad-supported Angry Birds in the Android Market to date. But Rovio is turning to the Amazon (AMZN) Appstore for their new paid application, Amazon Rio. The decision is an interesting one and should also serve as a wake up call for Google's Android Market.
There have been concerns among paid MORE
Seth Weintraub - Mar 14, 2011 10:30 AM ET
A curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to you everyday.
Photo: LinkedIn's new visual roadmap of connections, "InMaps"
LinkedIn unveiled a slew of new features during a webcast including "InMaps," which presents a visual MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Mar 11, 2011 6:40 AM ET
The quirky game has been downloaded a million times per day on Android over the weekend.
If there was ever a question of Google's Android being a viable gaming platform, RovioMobile's release of the full version of Angry Birds may have answered it. On Saturday and Sunday, Rovio distributed a million of their Angry Birds apps for Android through GetJar and then the Android Market. They added another million on Sunday.
Rovio gives Angry MORE
Seth Weintraub - Oct 18, 2010 10:04 AM ETEvery morning, discover the companies, deals and trends in tech that are moving markets and making headlines. SUBSCRIBE
Receive Fortune's newsletter on all the deals that matter, from Wall Street to Sand Hill Road. SUBSCRIBE
Covering the digital giants of Silicon Valley and beyond, an in-depth look at enterprise companies, and the startups disrupting them. Written by Michal Lev-Ram and emailed twice weekly. SUBSCRIBE
Anne Fisher answers career-related questions and offers helpful advice for business professionals. SUBSCRIBE
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,938.67 | -27.02 | -0.21% |
| Nasdaq | 2,933.17 | -15.40 | -0.52% |
| S&P 500 | 1,357.66 | -4.55 | -0.33% |
| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
.
