IV Sand World. First Story

Finnish game development studio Rovio, founded in 2003, made quite a ride on the roller coaster before its breakthrough. There was no system of unified platforms (IOS, Android) at the time the company was founded. That way, game developers had to develop a separate arcade for almost every phone manufacturer. Rovio's first customers were big game studios, to whom the Finns outsourced work and helped to make mobile versions of their games. So outsourcing provided the experience and valuable knowledge needed to create games.

Four years after the company was founded, in 2007, Apple presented a game changer for mobile phones — an iPhone with a touchscreen. Focusing on subcontracting for years, the company saw its own opportunity with the new phone and made the strategic decision to move to a new platform and start developing games for IOS. The development goal was set to be ambitious – to create the best touchscreen smartphone game in the world.

The development process of finding the best game began. In the process, dozens and hundreds of games were designed and tested. None, however, were good enough for a reason or another. Either it was the complexity, or instead simplicity and boredom that became fatal for the game. Among many development ideas was also the thought of a game which main characters were birds with big beaks. The artist who came to this idea had no concept of the game or other ideas, just a picture of crazy birds. The team liked the picture so much that it was decided to start developing characters and come up with the concept of the game.

It took the company two years to develop the characters and create the game. During this time, different solutions were tested, polished and refined. Tested and changed again. The fact that other games already for sale on the platform did not fly did not add certainty either. The development work went on, the money burned, but there was no result. The situation became alarming. In 2009, just before the launch of Angry Birds, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Finally, the game was released on the App Store. The long and thorough preliminary work and experience finally paid off. Angry Birds' game became an icon for mobile games.