Following their successful acquisition of Finnish studio Rovio Entertainment, the team behind the massively successful Angry Birds series, SEGA, is looking to strengthen its mobile presence with plans to bring its biggest games to the platform. Mobilegamer.biz has reported that the Japanese publisher aims to bring the Persona and Yakuza franchises to mobile devices; however, the timeline hasn’t been made clear.
SEGA’s co-COO Shuji Utsumi discussed this during his appearance at the Roviocon event, where he provided some updates following Rovio’s acquisition. While both teams are currently in the development of new IPs, they’re looking to take advantage of their strong mobile presence to bring existing IPs to the platform.
Currently, Sega and Rovio have been working on new mobile game projects based on our own IP… but Sonic is not the only IP to benefit from the mobile platform expansion. It will be a potential strong tailwind for other key Sega IP such as Yakuza and Persona.
Utsumi mentioned that the mobile platform is massive for SEGA, and utilizing the knowledge the Rovio team has amassed will allow SEGA “to pave the way for global mobile game audiences.” As there are new Angry Birds IPs in the form of animated projects and new games for console and PC, he also teased a potential crossover between Angry Birds and Sonic the Hedgehog.
He jokingly claimed that the brands are in a “dating” phase; however, this is due to SEGA’s vast catalog of ”IPs and characters” that became “much more attractive” with Angry Birds being added to the fold. “To maximize the value of these great IPs, we have implemented a transmedia strategy which comprehensively approaches a global fanbase through digital and also physical channels.”
This strategy is due to the recent success of Sonic the Hedgehog live-action films and their dedication to producing more Angry Birds animated films moving forward. Furthermore, the SEGA co-COO also discussed the massive potential of driving the brand into gaming subscription services currently available on the market and is also looking to develop metaverse products akin to the sandbox game Roblox.
