Sega completes USD 776 million Rovio acquisition

Sega Sammy

Sega Sammy has finalized its acquisition of Rovio, the developer behind the Angry Birds franchise, for USD 776 million. The deal was announced in April, but required some regulatory approvals. Sega hopes to boost its presence in the mobile gaming market with Rovio’s expertise and assets.

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Classic 'Angry Birds' game gets delisted on Google Play

Graphic: Rovio

If you want to get your hands on the rebuilt version of the classic Angry Birds game on Android, you must do that quickly. Rovio Classics: Angry Birds will be delisted from the Google Play Store this Thursday due to "the game's impact" on Rovio's games portfolio. Strangely, the Apple App Store version will remain, but the developer plans to change the game's name to Red's First Flight.

The Verge speculates that Rovio is delisting the game, so people use its free-to-play titles that rely more on microtransactions. The Rovio Classics version is a one-time purchase, so it won't make them as much money as the other Angry Birds titles. It's unclear why Rovio didn't just decide to rename the game like on the Apple App Store. If you're looking for the game, it's technically listed as Rovio Classics: AB, making it look like Rovio is really trying to bury the title.

Rovio’s spinoff Hatch to bring streaming game service to Android

Hatch, a new company that spun off from Angry Birds’s creator Rovio, is hoping to become the Spotify for mobile gaming. The new company is looking to let Android users stream and play games without downloading games onto their phones and have added “unique social features.” It’ll give anyone with an Android device free access to games without any updates or in-app purchases. The service and developers will supposedly get revenue from “integrated, unobtrusive advertising and brand storytelling.” Hatch is also planning to offer a paid subscription option to give gamers additional features. These features haven’t been specified at the moment.

Hatch partnered with Huawei Technologies to use its cloud-based servers. The service will let players compete or even help while playing online games as well as broadcast gameplay footage. Hatch says that even single-player games can be changed to have you receive online assistance from other gamers. Some of the 100 games expected at the time of launch include Badland, Monument Valley, Pac-Man CE DX, and many more. There will also be Hatch-exclusive games like IslaBomba: Ready To Boom. The company plans to launch the service via an invite-only beta sometime in the first half of 2017.

Source: Android Authority

Shakira and Rovio introduce ‘Love Rocks’ game

We’re sure you’ve heard of Shakira (if you haven’t, you must be living under a rock). We’re pretty sure you’ve also heard of Rovio or at least you know them more for their uber-popular Angry Birds games. The pop star teams up with the game developer to out her first game called Love Rocks. It’s a colorful puzzle game with a goal of linking as many gems as possible to get high scores. Shakira’s music plays in the background while you “travel” around the world to locations Shakira picked up herself such as Barcelona, El Dorado, and the Taj Mahal. There are over 150 levels of the game and you can even challenge yourself to beat Shakira’s own personal high score in each level.

Those who get past level 12 gain access to Shakira’s She Wolf album for free on Android. The free download is available for Google Play users in Canada, the US, Brazil, Spain, the UK, France, Australia, Italy, and Germany. You have until October 28 to redeem it.

Source: Android Community | Download: Google Play Store (Free) + Apple App Store (Free)