Mikael Hed, CEO of Finnish Game Studio Rovio, explains how successful its successful iPhone, angry birds, began with just a simple screenshot of a character unhappy bird.
When a little iPhone game called Angry Birds published last year, which no one predicted a great success that would be. Nearly eight months later, 2D physics puzzle Rovio Mobile surpassed the mark of 5 million sales, while showing no signs of slowing. Rovio CEO, Mikael Hed, discusses the origins of your company and the inspiration of its title star, angry birds.
Mikael Hed: My Cousin Nicholas - who is now the Director of Operations - to be launched. He and his colleagues participated in a competition organized by Hewlett-Packard and Nokia to make a real-time multiplayer game for mobile phones. They won the contest, and the end of 2003, officially began playing games together.
In fact, I joined the company twice, the first time in early 2004 when it was again just the three founders. I came to take over the business side of things. In 2005 he was the recipient of a small investment, then we have expanded quite rapidly to about 25 people.
I left the company shortly thereafter, but in early 2009 I was invited to join again. When I started in 2009 across the company was doing was working for the subject of rent, but none of those games were big enough to sustain the business. We have worked with some of the largest companies in the mobile space for a few years as Electronic Arts and Digital Chocolate.
GP: How do you and the team comes to the concept of Mad Bird, a game where players use a slingshot to launch the unhappy birds and pigs structures enemy?
MH: We're doing a contract job, so our strategy is that it will take a number of titles before they can actually make a hit. We started taking fewer contracts to free our boys own internal project to create. So to the game itself had a number of suggestions from the team, and one of them was only screen. Many of the proposals received were very well thought out, and then we had a display of this character angry bird just walking across the floor. Everyone in the room liked the characters of birds.
In the first meeting, we said 'okay, we should look at this character and getting a game for him. "Before the meeting he had laid down strict criteria to determine which game we want to go, but threw out for the role of angry birds.
When a little iPhone game called Angry Birds published last year, which no one predicted a great success that would be. Nearly eight months later, 2D physics puzzle Rovio Mobile surpassed the mark of 5 million sales, while showing no signs of slowing. Rovio CEO, Mikael Hed, discusses the origins of your company and the inspiration of its title star, angry birds.
Mikael Hed: My Cousin Nicholas - who is now the Director of Operations - to be launched. He and his colleagues participated in a competition organized by Hewlett-Packard and Nokia to make a real-time multiplayer game for mobile phones. They won the contest, and the end of 2003, officially began playing games together.
In fact, I joined the company twice, the first time in early 2004 when it was again just the three founders. I came to take over the business side of things. In 2005 he was the recipient of a small investment, then we have expanded quite rapidly to about 25 people.
I left the company shortly thereafter, but in early 2009 I was invited to join again. When I started in 2009 across the company was doing was working for the subject of rent, but none of those games were big enough to sustain the business. We have worked with some of the largest companies in the mobile space for a few years as Electronic Arts and Digital Chocolate.
GP: How do you and the team comes to the concept of Mad Bird, a game where players use a slingshot to launch the unhappy birds and pigs structures enemy?
MH: We're doing a contract job, so our strategy is that it will take a number of titles before they can actually make a hit. We started taking fewer contracts to free our boys own internal project to create. So to the game itself had a number of suggestions from the team, and one of them was only screen. Many of the proposals received were very well thought out, and then we had a display of this character angry bird just walking across the floor. Everyone in the room liked the characters of birds.
In the first meeting, we said 'okay, we should look at this character and getting a game for him. "Before the meeting he had laid down strict criteria to determine which game we want to go, but threw out for the role of angry birds.
MH: The inspiration probably came from other games - Angry Bird definitely has a mix of games on it. The most important source of inspiration-wise for us were the characters. We began development in March 2009. There were many people in the project throughout the development. Probably about 10 people all-in-all. Towards the end we had four or five people. I remember back from my summer vacation and thinking that this is not really where I want to make the game. We returned to the original screen shot and wonder where's the spark?
GP: How long after angry Bird appeared on the App Store became obvious that the game was a success? He was immediately shot to the top of the charts?
MH: For us, the game launched in December 2009 and reached number one in Finland most of the night. When I was in the first ten people were intrigued by the title and maintained the purchase. It was not until mid-Februrary Apple to offer the game, and that is what led to number one in the UK. In February he was still the number one in the U.S..
It is more than 5 million in sales now. And then, when you add the IPAD, is even greater. IPAD version of Mad Bird has been more profitable per unit sold.
GP: Angry Bird is one of the most successful games released in the App Store, but it is selling for $ 0.99. Has been the most profitable game Rovio as you would like to go and how you feel about the pricing structure of most iPhone games?
MH: I can not complain because we have to remember where we started. At first it was very important for us to get a break. So the price was a means to an end. Angry Bird is so successful that it can expand and make money in many other ways.
GP: What exactly about Birds angry that attracts so many people around the world?
MH: We originally did for the iPhone, and wanted to make a game that uses the touch screen. One of the criteria was it had to be expandable so it could bring to the iPhone and other platforms. There is an old wisdom: It must be easy to learn and play but difficult to master. The "easy to learn" part was very important to us. When you see a screenshot of the game you know what to do. Bird angry is simple, but still has depth. It must be so much fun that the players want to return to play again and again. Angry Bird done just that.
GP: Can we expect to see any new game and comes from the Rovio in the near future?
MH: angry birds will last for several platforms including the PlayStation Network as a liberation downloadablePlayStation Mini. Traditionally, our focus is on smart phones, but we're seeing much more than that with the game. So no, you will not see a new game soon, because the upgrade angry bird is the focus. We are working on a new IP, but it will be a while before we are willing to give it.
GP: Is it more rewarding to have a small team developing low-budget games for mobile platforms that eventually hope to expand and begin to tackle larger projects?
MH: Now that our company is growing we can serve multiple platforms at once. We are very good at making casual games, so for now, that is the focus. A small team is advantageous when you are operating in a market as fierce as the App Store, especially when one considers the intensity of competition is there.
We've seen a bit of a break in the hardware market with iPhone for the third generation of iPhones and iPod Touch, which had a faster processor and better all-around graphics capabilities.
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