14 DAY TRIAL // Rovio, the company behind the much played Angry Birds, understands that players are looking for innovation when it comes to their gaming experiences in order to keep paying money in the long term.
Mikael Hed, who is the chief executive officer at Rovio, has told AllThingsD that “Talking about ‘users’ is totally wrong. As long as you keep talking about users, you forget they are really human beings. You are not making for essentially a walking wallet.”
The executive believes that the company needs to continue looking for ways to improve the Angry Birds experience in order to keep players coming back in the long term.
He also says that the success that Rovio has seen has made the game a good acquisition target, adding that “I would say there are a number of companies that are very active in the acquisition space. Zynga is one of them. It’s clear that at one point or another we talk to everybody.” “It would be very easy for us to just go shopping. To get lasting benefit is the hard part.”
The CEO also revealed that before the success of Angry Birds, Rovio was a rather small company, with the chief backing coming from Hed’s own father.
At the moment Rovio is working on Angry Birds: Space, a new entry in its most successful series, which is set to include new mechanics while keeping the core of the series unchanged.
The company has not said exactly what platforms it plans to release its new game on, prompting speculation that the company might be ready to drop its focus on mobile devices and make Angry Birds a brand that appeals to console and PC gamers as well.
The franchise has managed to so far get more than half a billion copies to gamers, both normal and special editions, although Rovio has not said what percentage of the player base actively pays for the game.