'We Did Too Many Things': 'Angry Birds' Maker Rovio To Cut 260 Jobs

Rovio Entertainment, the maker of mobile game "Angry Birds," announced today that it will lay off up to 260 employees.

"Angry Birds 2" had, according to Rovio, 50 million downloads in its first month -- a success by anyone’s standard -- which makes the news of job cuts all the more surprising, although the company did cut 130 people last October, later posting a 9% revenue loss in 2014.

“Rovio’s growth and eagerness to explore new business opportunities over the past few years has been exceptional. As a result, we did too many things.” said Rovio CEO Pekka Rantala in a statement.

Since its initial success with "Angry Birds," Rovio has expanded its brand into merchandising, an animated cartoon series, and even float-making for parades. As per their statement, the company plans to sharpen their focus on three key areas of its business: games, media and consumer products.

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“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,” states Rantala.

Some analysts see the game maker’s failure to capitalize on the freemium model that is now popular in most mobile games as a contributing factor to the company’s revenue loss.

Those working on the Angry Birds movie in the US and Canada are exempt from the round of layoffs. The movie stars comedians Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, and Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage, among others.

1 comment about "'We Did Too Many Things': 'Angry Birds' Maker Rovio To Cut 260 Jobs".
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  1. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, August 26, 2015 at 3:14 p.m.

    Angry Birds is so 2010.

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