Rovio Shutting London Studio After Only One Year

The Finnish games studio behind mobile hit Angry Birds, Rovio has said it plans to shut its London studio after only a year with seven staff already working at the studio being axed as a result.

The studio in London opened in last year in January with the objective to focus on other mobile titles and massively multiplayer online games, and Rovio even had plans to hire a potential of 20 staff members over a two year period, unfortunately, the rest of the year took a turn.

After a worse than expected result of the fourth quarter of 2017, Rovio reported that the loss was due a low interest in its newer mobile games. The news even dropped Rovio’s share price down by 10%.

Rovio released a statement explaining:

"On March 1st, 2018, Rovio decided on a plan that would see its game studio in London closed and the functions of the games business centralized in Espoo and Stockholm. Should the plan be implemented, the operations of the London studio will be discontinued by the end of March and the employment of the seven people working at the London studio will be terminated."

It’s always sad to hear the news of jobs being lost due to low studio performance, with high expectations and we hope all those affected find jobs in the industry. As for Rovio, it’s clear that with a massive influx of some many casual games in the mobile market, it’s difficult and costly to stay on top when your biggest attraction is a bunch of birds getting back at pigs, but it is what it is.