Rovio has launched a sequel to its hugely popular Angry Birds game, ‘Bad Piggies’, as the app maker hopes to match the ad-funded success of its predecessor.
Going live today (27th September) and avaialble iOS, Android and Mac, the free ad-funded game turns the franchise on its head by letting the fans play as the pigs with new gameplay.
In Bad Piggies, instead of shooting with a slingshot, players build vehicles that help the characters get the birds’ eggs.
The company said it was hoping the new game would breathe additional life into its brand.
“There’s a lot of empathy towards the lovable enemies from the Angry Birds games, and we’ve been constantly asked: what about the pigs’ side of the story?” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio. “Bad Piggies gives you the chance to play as the second-most-loved characters in the Angry Birds universe, and explore this rich world through their green eyes.”
“We’ve had a lot of fun creating a totally new and unique gameplay experience,” said Petri Järvilehto, EVP Games at Rovio. “There’s so much more to these pigs than what is seen in the Angry Birds games, and Bad Piggies is the first glimpse into what’s going on in the imaginative and ingenious minds of the pigs.”
The sequel comes close on the heels of Rovio’s launch of Amazing Alex, a physics-based game released in July. While Amazing Alex initially flew to the top of the charts, it has failed to sustain the same kind of momentum that Angry Birds has to date.
After less than two months, Amazing Alex ranks as the 73rd most popular paid app, and the 42nd most popular paid game in the U.S., according to AppData.
A hit on app stores would give the Finnish company a boost as it looks to a possible stock market flotation next year. Some analysts put its market value at between US$6 billion (S$7.4 billion) and US$9 billion, nearly on a par with another top Finnish tech name, phone maker Nokia Oyj.
Rovio was founded in 2003 and became a global phenomenon after it launched Angry Birds for Apple Inc’s iPhone in late 2009.
The highly-addictive game helped Rovio’s sales jump 10-fold to US$100 million (S$122 million) last year, a fraction of the 38.7 billion euros (S$61.4 billion) which Nokia chalked up.
It has remained at the top of gaming charts, with more than a billion downloads, and had 200 million monthly users at the end of 2011. That compares for instance with the 240 million attracted by offerings from U.S-based Zynga, such as the Facebook -based Farmville.
The Bad Piggies game will launch on iOS, Android and Mac on September 27. Windows Phone, Windows 8 and PC versions will follow shortly.
Players can follow the pigs on Twitter twitter.com/badpiggies and like the pigs on Facebook facebook.com/badpiggies.
Watch the trailer here:
Watch a gameplay trailer here:
www.badpiggies.com
www.rovio.com