Angry Birds developer Rovio is preparing to introduce a new set of games as it entered into a partnership between Moomin Characters and Gutsy Animation. With this, Rovio gains the rights to develop and publish any games based on Moomin, which can be made for any platform. However, Rovio has exclusive rights when it comes to mobile platforms.
Though this is indeed good news for Rovio, there’s still a long road ahead. Moomins had its beginnings in Finland and as a brand, high awareness remains to be limited in Japan. Still, Japan has a large gaming market and can serve as a good jump-off point for games.
For those not familiar, the Moomins are a family of fairy tale characters that resemble hippopotamuses, though they are actually trolls. The first book was released back in 1945 and has since been introduced in different media like TV and film. No games appear to have been made on the characters. The deal with Rovio, which is expected to last for six years, is good news for Moomins fans.
Talking about the partnership, Rovio CEO Alex Pelletier-Normand shared in a post that they are excited to be given the chance to bring the iconic characters to new audiences worldwide. Pelletier-Normand went on to say that for Rovio, this helps diversify their portfolio and assist their growth strategy. He added that they’ve actually started the development of the very first Moomin game and hope to have a soft launch later this year.
Meanwhile, Moomin Characters Managing Director Roleff Kråkström said that they are excited to have partnered with Rovio since it also opened up new opportunities for Moomin. This partnership is but the first step in bringing local Nordic creations to the world.
Finally, Gutsy Animations CCO Marika Makaroff revealed that the partnership is a validation of the studio being able to come up with high-quality and unique content for the global market.
As a developer, Rovio is known for its Angry Birds franchise. The first Angry Birds game received commercial success with many citing the good mix of comical style, fun gameplay, and low price.
