Rovio is laying off 36 staff, says Angry Birds Dream Blast has ‘not been performing as expected’
The layoffs include senior staff who were working on the game
Angry Birds studio Rovio is laying off 36 staff, partly as a result of mobile game Angry Birds Dream Blast not generating as much money as it had hoped.
The puzzle spin-off was released in 2018 but has seemingly failed to take off in a big way, leaving Rovio disappointed by its overall performance.
MobileGamer.biz reports that 36 staff are being laid off, with its source stating that some of those layoffs include senior staff on Angry Birds Dream Blast.
A Rovio spokesperson confirmed to the publication that the studio was rearranging its studio structure, partly to improve the quality of its output and partly to better integrate with Sega, which acquired Rovio two years ago.
“No games have been cancelled but Angry Birds Dream Blast has unfortunately not been performing as expected,” the spokesperson told MobileGamer.biz. “We have been renewing our organisation this autumn in reaction to one of our games underperforming and in order to better respond to the market, to move towards a more game-centric approach, and to be able to iterate fast on new game ideas.
“We are creating new business units, reorganising some of our game studios and reallocating some of the games developed in them. For example, Puzzle studio in Finland will be focusing on fewer games as some of their games become an independent business unit and our Barcelona office will cater to more games than it has done, so far.
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“We are also making some changes in our management structure to reflect our role as a non-listed company, as well as tightening our relations with SEGA. With this our CEO is spending more time around our different Rovio locations and at the SEGA of Europe office. These changes resulted in changes in some roles, the creation of several new roles and a total of 36 employees being made redundant.”
Sega completed its acquisition of Rovio in August 2023, saying it hoped the Angry Birds studio would bolster its own live service mobile game portfolio.
At the time, Sega said it wanted to use “Rovio’s distinctive know-how in live service mobile game operation to bring Sega’s current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market, where there is large potential.”
At the same time, Sega also claimed that Rovio wants to go beyond mobile games and Sega wanted to help it accomplish this. “Rovio is aiming to expand its platform outside of mobile gaming, and Sega will actively look to support this process through its capabilities,” it said.
