Rovio, the mobile games maker reported its operating profit fell 73 percent last year due to a drop in its licensing business, a latest sign its breakthrough Angry Birds brand is losing its appeal.
Back when they launched in 2009, they’ve been unable to repeat that success. Rovio said its 2014 operating profit fell to 10 million euros from 36.5 million in 2013 and 76.8 million in 2012.Its total sales fell 9 percent last year to 158.3 million euros. Revenue from mobile games, however, increased 16 percent to 110.7 million euros as new games such as Jolly Jam and Angry Birds Stella Pop! helped its total annual downloads to reach 600 million.
To quote Pekka Rantala their CEO,
“Sales of consumer by-products did not move according to expectations, and surely we are unsatisfied over the result of our licensing business,”
With stellar ambitions of competing with Walt Disney, even thinking about TV shows and Movies, they don’t seem to have gotten too far. However, Rantala said he was confident over the future and promised to come out in the coming months with major partnership deals related to the movie.
The original Angry Birds game, in which players use a slingshot to attack pigs who steal birds’ eggs, is the No.1 paid mobile application of all time, according to Rovio. Last year, Rovio cut about 110 jobs, representing 14 percent of its workforce. I guess, all of this is can allow one to circumspect about the 73% drop.
Source: Reuters.Com