Rovio About to Lay-Off 260 Staff

In an attempt to create a “leaner and more agile” company, Angry Birds developer Rovio is planning to fling pink slips at up to 260 employees, the Finnish firm announced on Wednesday.

Rovio saw its profits fall 75 percent in 2014 to just £7.3 million, as sales of merchandise plummeted and its apps descended in the Google Play and Apple app stores.

It’s worth remembering that Rovio produced dozens games that flopped before developing Angry Birds. An Angry Birds movie, slated for release next year, is estimated to have cost the company over £65m. As per their statement, the company plans to sharpen their focus on three key areas of its business: games, media and consumer products. Rantala said that in the company’s present financial conditions, Rovio must focus on what it does best, which is, producing fantastic animation movie, offering magnificent gaming experiences and delighting fans with great products.

In spite of the success of Angry Birds 2 (almost 50 million downloads inside the first month), Rovio has announced that up to 260 positions across the company are being cut back. Unfortunately, overuse of the brand name and numerous spin-offs started to water-down the franchise, making us feel quite numb towards the Angry Birds name. Those working on The Angry Birds Movie are the only ones safe from the cuts.

This is the second time in less than a year that Rovio has laid off staff; it previously fired 110 of its employees in October of last year. The film, which has been slated for July 2016 release, will feature voice cast Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph and Peter Dinklage.