The first version of Angry Birds is about to bow out on the Google Play Store! The studio prefers instead to highlight the other versions of the game, with in-app purchases: a much more profitable business model…
Angry Birds, the famous bird throwing game, is about to say goodbye to the many fans, who have sometimes spent hundreds of hours – in the toilets as in the subway – on the small mobile game, since the Finnish studio Rovio Entertainment is preparing to remove it from the Play Store, Google’s application store, on February 23. As a reminder, the player must send birds, each species of which has different powers, in order to destroy the fortresses with horrible pigs. The gameplay perfectly exploits the touch of the smartphone and is easy to access, while providing an intense feeling of satisfaction with each destroyed building. How quickly to become addicted! But then, why delete a game that is so successful? Because it is precisely too popular and overshadows the studio’s other productions, especially since the economic model of the game is not profitable enough. Rovio explains on Twitter that “We did a profitability analysis of Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, and due to its impact on our portfolio, we decided that [le jeu] will be removed from the Google Play Store”. End of the game!
Free Angry Birds: an unprofitable business model
Launched in 2009 on iPhone, angry Birds quickly became a resounding success. However, the studio withdrew it from the App Store and the Play Store in 2019 before bringing it back in 2022 in an updated version called Rovio Classics: Angry Birds. Sold for 1.19 euros, it is devoid of any advertising and microtransaction – in-game payments to be able to access special items and progress faster. Suffice to say that the title quickly pays for itself for regular users, who largely prefer it to other Rovio games, such as Angry Birds 2 And Angry Birds Friends. These are free but include many microtransactions – the famous free-to-play or freemium games – which is obviously more profitable for the studio.
The first version ofangry Birds will remain available on all devices that downloaded it before February 23 – but will be permanently unavailable if uninstalled. The game will however remain accessible on the App Store, on which it made its debut, but under the name of Red’s First Flight, which will highlight other games in the franchise for users who type “Angry Birds” in the search bar. In the meantime, it is still possible to enjoy the two films taken from the game, Angry Birds: The Movie And Angry Birds: Friends as Pigs, but also theme parks, toys, books and comics. This is a very lucrative business!