Rovio, the creators of the Angry Birds franchise, announced today that it would spin off the Stella character that was introduced in Angry Birds Seasons and then returned in the considerably less successful racing game Angry Birds Go!. Stella, the pink bird, will get her own game this fall and will certainly be used in Rovio’s sub-brand development when she finds her way to books, merchandise, television shows, clothing, film and other products.
Angry Birds targeting females?
Rovio seems to have gone out of its way to not specifically say that this spinoff is targeting girls and women, but let’s say that in reading the announcement today it didn’t read terribly dissimilar to a women’s studies course description when it posted on its Tumblr blog that “inspiration, empowerment and other real issues” were to be the primary themes.
“Angry Birds Stella is breaking the mold by introducing strong, passionate characters who really stand for something, while adding plenty of action and reality into the mix,” said Rovio’s chief executive Mikael Hed. “The Angry Birds Stella story will live and evolve across physical and digital, bridging them in fun and innovative ways.”
It’s also expected that when Angry Birds hits the big screen on July 1, 2016 that Stella will surely have her part to play along with others that will be introduced in this spinoff.
Rovio’s and Angry Birds competition
While 2012 belonged to Angry Birds, 2013 was certainly the year of Flappy Bird. With profits of over $50,000 a day for a single developer is nothing shy of staggering, Rovio’s billions of downloads showed its worldwide reach before being eclipse in revenue by company’s like Candy Crush Saga maker King, and Clash of Clans maker Supercell.
With the help of in-app purchasing, Supercell brought in nearly $900 million in revenue for 2013.
Rovio has gone a different route in merchandising its games and looking for other outlets. In September, Rovio’s in-app Toons channel surpassed a billion views and has become a vehicle for companies’ TV shows and shortform videos.
45% of Rovio’s revenues of 152 million Euros came from its consumer products division after sales of plush toys and other merchandise more than tripled from the year prior. The company has yet to publish its financial results for 2013.
