It looks the Angry Birds franchise is not what it once was. Rovio, the Finnish developer behind the mobile gaming phenomenon, announced today that it was cutting 260 jobs or about 40% of its workforce in a bid to lower costs.
TechCrunch notes that the company already downsized by 110 employees in October 2014. Couple that with today's news and that means Rovio has shed almost half of its once 800 strong workforce in less than a year. Rovio is a huge development house with offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Shanghai among others.
In an official press release that was shared on their website, the company outlined their plans for the future:
"While we have gathered good momentum this year, especially with the launch of the Angry Birds 2 game -- downloaded nearly 50 million times in its first month of release -- fundamental changes are needed to ensure Rovio succeeds in its global ambitions to be the leading entertainment company with mobile games at its heart," says Rovio's CEO Pekka Rantala. "This is personally a difficult decision. However, it is certain that a leaner and more agile Rovio is absolutely necessary to move forward and take the company to new successes in the future.We will work with and support all our employees through this period of change."
The company is now focusing on its three primary business areas of games, media, and consumer products.
Despite the bad news, it looks like Rovio is soldiering on with a planned movie adaptation of the Angry Birds franchise. The film is being directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly and features an all-star cast that includes Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph, Danny McBride and Bill Hader. It is set to hit theatres on May 20, 2016.
