SEGA is buying Rovio with the deal expected to close in Q3

SEGA is buying Rovio, the Finnish studio has confirmed in an official press release today. Noting that SEGA has agreed to acquire the studio for €706 million, which is about $776 million. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. Once upon a time Rovio was a mobile game developer that was at the peak of popularity. Thanks to games like Angry Birds taking the world by storm in 2009 with its physics-based puzzle gameplay and its endearing bird and pig characters.

Even though Rovio is less in the limelight these days, the studio is still managing to pump out new Angry Birds content. In fact the franchise has become so massive that it’s been adapted into a movie and there’s an official Minecraft version of the game you can play. And of course you can still find all or most of Rovio’s portfolio of games on Google Play. With only one of them having a rating below 4 stars.

The point being, Rovio may not be front and center like it used to be, but its games are still pretty popular. And that is no doubt why SEGA wants to acquire the studio.

SEGA is buying Rovio to bolster its mobile presence

Rovio holds a commanding presence on mobile even all these years later. More so than SEGA one might say. And that it’s that presence that SEGA is looking to take advantage of. But more importantly, buying Rovio gives SEGA access to the studio’s ‘Beacon’ game development platform.

Rovio designed this platform to make development of games much easier. And says that simplifies the entire process from development, to publishing, to updates and live operations. No matter the game genre.

SEGA can implement the Beacon SDK into its future games and essentially streamline everything about the ongoing development. Which means more efficient releases and probably more games. Basically it seems like a good move for all involved.