Most of you have undoubtedly played the video game Angry Birds. The main characters of this game are Red, the leader of the birds, Chuck, his yellow-coloured best friend and Bomb, his black-coloured explosive friend. Other characters include Silver, Stella, Hal, Matilda, Terence, the Blues and the self-inflating bubbles. All of them join forces to protect eggs from pigs. Did you know that this was the 52nd attempt at making a video game by the Finnish media company Rovio Entertainment? The company had failed to launch the game 51 times! The game gained such a following that an English movie called ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ was produced in 2016. The film was directed by the Irish filmmaker Fergal Reilly and American animator Clay Kaytis. Let’s find out how these birds saved Rovio from drowning.
A story of ‘Try try try again’
The game developer company Rovio was founded in 2003 by three university students, Niklas Hed, Jarno Väkeväinen and Kim Dikert, from Finland. It was a regular, small firm that made mobile games. The first six years were challenging for them. Although they launched more than 50 games, none proved to be successful. They had limited resources and funds and were on the verge of bankruptcy by 2009. They realised immediately that the bird needed to be the centre of attention. Someone had a brilliant idea that the birds require an enemy. How was the enemy decided? That particular year, the headlines were buzzing about a swine flu pandemic; hence, the pigs were selected as the main enemy in the game. The birds would become upset because the pigs were stealing their eggs. So, they would defend the eggs in groups! And this is how the Angry Birds game was conceptualised and Rovio launched its 52nd game in December 2009. Let’s see how!
Not an impressive start
The first sign that the Rovio team had a potential hit on its hands came at Christmas. One of the founder’s mothers became so engaged in the game that she accidentally burnt the family’s dinner. At work, every single developer was constantly fascinated by the game. Instead of playing for one or two minutes, they would spend 15 minutes or more while the entire workplace gathered around and cheered! ‘Angry Birds’ was successful in understanding the mentality of the people. Yet, success took time to come. The ‘Angry Birds’ app failed miserably upon launching on the App Store.
Delayed success
In their home country of Finland and the game performed well there. It gained popularity in Sweden when a local skiing champion said in an interview that she plays the game to relax during her spare time. Then followed several other smaller nations, which helped it gain some momentum. Subsequently, the game moved from the 600th position to the game of the week in the United Kingdom (UK) App Store! It quickly rose to the top of the UK charts and set things in motion. A few months later, Angry Birds was at the top of the charts in the United States too. And later on, it took the world by storm! The greatest strength of the ‘Angry Birds’ game is its captivating play. These video games use the same psychological pathways as gambling and keep you addicted!