angry birds – The Sonic Stadium

#SEGA

SEGA Sammy looks set to expand its mobile gaming business very soon, as a fresh report from the Wall Street Journal has revealed that the House of Sonic is nearing a deal to buy ‘Angry Birds’ developer Rovio Entertainment for around $1 billion.

According to the WSJ, assuming the talks “don’t break down or drag out”, the Finland-based mobile game maker could find itself a part of SEGA Sammy’s portfolio as early as next week, citing people familiar with the deal.

Rovio is best known for its fowl-flinging, pig-smashing hit game, Angry Birds, originally released for mobile devices in 2009 and is largely credited as one of the first breakout games for the iPhone and the then-nascent smartphone market. The company has built on the initial game’s success as much as it could over the years, turning the name into a multimedia franchise spanning TV spinoffs and movies.

It seems that, despite Rovio’s best efforts, it reportedly could not replicate the same success as it did with Angry Birds for any of its new IP, which is cited as a reason for the company putting itself on sale and becoming available for acquisition.

Of course, in today’s gaming landscape acquisitions are starting to become commonplace, with Microsoft and Sony getting headlines for its increasing third-party studio buyouts. It seems only natural that SEGA Sammy would join in on the action – and adding an existing beloved IP to its portfolio could perhaps revitalise the Japanese corporation’s performance in the mobile space.

All that said, don’t hold your breath for any Sonic x Angry Birds crossover events just yet. You could probably expect a silly art piece from the official Sonic social media team though.

via WSJ (paywall)

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#Games

Angry Birds are Coming to Sonic Dash

11th June 201529th July 2015

Dave Luty

19 Comments

Boy this is really turning into one of those weeks isn’t it? In a move which nobody saw coming, Sega and Rovio have partnered together to announce that Angry Birds are coming to Sonic Dash in a special one off event.

The event starts today and will run for three weeks, featuring a different Angry Bird from Angry Birds Epic each week, including Red ‘Knight,’ Chuck ‘Mage,’ and Bomb ‘Pirate.’ During the game, players can collect special Angry Birds Epic tokens to unlock featured characters. Once a character is successfully unlocked, it will remain playable following the close of the event.

Curiously, Hardlight have removed all traces of the event from their social media outlets yet a press release has still been sent out, it reads as follows.

SQUAAAAAAAAWK! ANGRY BIRDS™ JOIN SONIC DASH™ FOR AN EPIC THREE-WEEK CELEBRATION

Sonic Dash Celebrates 100 Million Downloads with Angry Birds Epic

Sonic gets by with a little help from his friends for a celebration of epic proportions. SEGA®, in partnership with Rovio Entertainment Ltd., is proud to announce that today Angry Birds™ Epic will be appearing in Sonic Dash™ for a limited time on the App Store, Google Play™, Amazon Appstore and Windows Phone Store. This in-game event will include three of the most popular and best-known characters from the Angry Birds franchise: Red, Chuck and Bomb.

“We were thrilled with the opportunity to work with Rovio on this integration,” said Chris Southall, CTO of Hardlight™. “The expressive, colorful, and fun characters from Angry Birds Epic lend themselves flawlessly to Sonic Dash and really enhance the overall experience.”

This three-week in-game event will feature a different fan-favorite Angry Bird from Angry Birds Epic each week, including Red ‘Knight,’ Chuck ‘Mage,’ and Bomb ‘Pirate.’ Players will dash through the endless runner, collecting the special Angry Birds Epic tokens to unlock featured characters. Once a character is successfully unlocked, it will remain playable following the close of the event. Players will also have the option to purchase Red, Chuck, and Bomb using premium currency during the event.

“Our EPIC Sonic collaboration together with SEGA is a fantastic milestone for Angry Birds,” said Wilhelm Taht, Head of External Products at Rovio. “Having two such iconic game characters and games work seamlessly together will delight millions of fans worldwide in both Sonic Dash and Angry Birds Epic.”

Sonic Dash is also celebrating a major milestone — the game has achieved over 100 million downloads since its launch in March of 2013. SEGA is proud to have hit this landmark, making Sonic Dash the most downloaded Sonic mobile game in the history of the legacy IP.

The Angry Birds Epic in-game event starts today and will run for three weeks. For more information on Sonic Dash, please visit the official Facebook and Twitter pages.

So Angry Birds & Sonic, lets us know your feelings in the comments.