Angry Birds was one of the 2010s most popular mobile games. However, the 2020s haven't been so kind to the franchise. They haven't made a game in over 3 years and Angry Bird's reputation is at an all time low. How did Angry Birds get to this point?
This is, The Slow, Painful, Greedy Death Of Angry Birds
Thank you guys for watching, like and sub if you enjoyed, SunnyV2
Also, the idea for this video was inspired by "HORIZON" who posted a video on a similar topic in February 2023 titled "Why Did Angry Birds Go Bankrupt?" You can watch his version here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEVLHtzFle4&t=570s
This is, The Slow, Painful, Greedy Death Of Angry Birds
Thank you guys for watching, like and sub if you enjoyed, SunnyV2
Also, the idea for this video was inspired by "HORIZON" who posted a video on a similar topic in February 2023 titled "Why Did Angry Birds Go Bankrupt?" You can watch his version here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEVLHtzFle4&t=570s
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00:00Back in 2011, Angry Birds was everywhere.
00:02They had multiple different games, toys and movies, generating hundreds of millions of dollars.
00:08But by 2019, they were firing masses of staff, and since then things have only gotten worse.
00:15Perhaps it's just karma for stealing the initial idea.
00:18Angry Birds wasn't an original concept.
00:21In April 2009, a game was released named Crush the Castle,
00:25which required players to fire a trebuchet into wooden structure hiding medieval people.
00:31Well, 8 months later in December 2009, game developer Rovio made an app named Angry Birds,
00:37which while clearly being a rip-off, was better in every way.
00:41It had cooler, cleaner animated graphics, and different stages each with different levels.
00:46You got points for every enemy killed, and points for every bird you didn't use,
00:50giving players the chance to compete for high scores.
00:54Throw in 5 different birds with 5 different abilities, as well as a cool catchy soundtrack,
00:59and it's easy to see that Angry Birds was better.
01:02They'd developed 51 games prior to Angry Birds, none of which saw even the smallest bit of success.
01:08Therefore when Angry Birds took only 2 months to become the number 1 paid app in 60 countries,
01:15they understandably took the chance to milk it.
01:18They'd make loads of different varieties like Angry Birds Seasons,
01:22Angry Birds Space, and Angry Birds Star Wars,
01:25helping it become the number 1 paid app in Apple's App Store, with 6-7 million paid downloads.
01:31By the end of Angry Birds' first year, they'd made 10 million US dollars,
01:36but players still demanded more.
01:38We have so many fans who have asked for the plush toys,
01:41so these are going to be available in a couple of weeks,
01:44and we're really trying to build Angry Birds into this entertainment franchise.
01:49It took only 4 months before they'd announced 60,000 Angry Birds soft toys had been sold,
01:55as the game itself became the best-selling paid app of all time,
01:59within Angry Birds itself.
02:01They'd implement microtransactions like Mighty Eagle,
02:04which allowed players to pay to clear entire levels,
02:07with celebs like Justin Bieber even advocating for it.
02:11Angry Birds made 100 million in 2011,
02:14and went from 28 employees in the beginning of the year,
02:18to 224 employees by the end of 2011.
02:215 months later, they set a new world record.
02:24First mobile game series to reach a billion downloads.
02:28They'd double their revenue again by the end of 2012,
02:31at which point they started to face a serious problem.
02:34The game was getting stale.
02:36They'd made multiple different Angry Birds versions,
02:39but hadn't changed the concept in over 3 years.
02:43As a result, in the following year, their profits more than halved,
02:47with Angry Birds falling to 59th in the App Store,
02:50forcing the franchise to try a new format.
02:53They'd release Angry Birds Go at the end of 2013,
02:57and while this was somewhat of a Mario Kart ripoff,
03:00people absolutely loved it.
03:05Professional reviewers gave it 7.7,
03:08while people on Reddit called it their favourite Angry Birds game,
03:12and Perfection at its finest.
03:14Rovio therefore continued to experiment,
03:17releasing an RPG game named Angry Birds Epic,
03:20which again received incredible reviews,
03:22rating the latest Angry Birds title as a welcome addition to a franchise,
03:27which hasn't seen much change since its inception back in 2009.
03:32Similarly, users said it might be the best RPG title I've ever played.
03:36And honestly, a pretty solid time.
03:38I think the approach they went with here really worked and paid off.
03:40The only problem was,
03:42these games didn't sell merch like the original slingshot format.
03:46Therefore, merchandise sales plummeted,
03:49while total 2014 revenue dropped,
03:52and profits fell 73% to 10 million euros.
03:55As a result, media outlets reported,
03:58Rovio lays off 110 people as Angry Birds hype fades,
04:02representing 14% of the company's workforce.
04:06They try to fix their decline with yet another experiment,
04:09Angry Birds Pop, which was pretty unsuccessful.
04:13In a Reddit thread asking out of all the Angry Birds games,
04:16which one do you think is the worst,
04:18Pop was mentioned many times over.
04:21Therefore, they'd go back to basics,
04:23and put out Angry Birds 2, the official sequel,
04:26although many called it a downgrade from the original.
04:29The sequel was filled to the brim with microtransactions,
04:33clearly annoying the fanbase who wrote,
04:35this is a very greedy game that keeps sucking money out of you.
04:39If you play well, the game becomes harder and harder until it's impossible,
04:43and then you either have to replay each level 10 times,
04:46or buy gems.
04:48The game is just trying to throw you off balance,
04:50and get under your skin so that you pay more.
04:53The official IGN review said the game took,
04:56significant steps backward for the massively popular series.
05:00Angry Birds 2 is missing key parts,
05:03of what made previous games so universally compelling,
05:06to gamers both hardcore and casual, young and old.
05:09Still, due to its intense monetization,
05:12Angry Birds 2 became their highest earning game.
05:15Surprisingly, however, that very same year,
05:18they'd announced losses of almost 15 million,
05:21and would fire a further third of their workforce,
05:24this time being over 200 people.
05:26This seemed to imply that Angry Birds was dead,
05:30until they'd make an unexpected comeback.
05:32Turns out they'd spent the previous three years,
05:35privately developing the Angry Birds movie.
05:38At a cost of 73 million, they'd made a risky bet,
05:41but with a star-studded cast and a fun little story,
05:45the Angry Birds movie did surprisingly well.
05:47It made over 350 million from its 70 million budget,
05:52and put Angry Birds back into the public spotlight.
05:55People began replaying their previously released games,
05:58while Angry Birds theme parks popped up in different countries.
06:02Media outlets reported Rovio Games had its best year ever in 2016.
06:07However, the gaming releases that Angry Birds was known for,
06:11were still declining in quality.
06:13In his video, I played and ranked every Angry Birds game,
06:16so you don't have to,
06:17Jake Miller talks about Angry Birds Action.
06:20Angry Birds Action was the start of using
06:21the new anthropomorphic designs from the movies in their games,
06:24which I think most fans agree was the real beginning of the end for the series.
06:28Which happened to be the first game after the movie.
06:31Similarly, in the Reddit thread asking about the worst Angry Birds game,
06:35one user implied it was most of them,
06:37after the movie's release.
06:39Said games included Angry Birds Fight, aka a Candy Crush rip-off,
06:44as well as Angry Birds Match,
06:46which was described as extremely bland.
06:48However, thankfully for Rovio,
06:50their older titles were still extremely popular,
06:53with Angry Birds 2's revenue growing 47% in 2018,
06:58despite it being over three years old.
07:01This gave them the budget to make a second movie,
07:04however, their $65 million dollar bet,
07:07didn't pay off so well this time.
07:09Forbes wrote Angry Birds 2,
07:11is worse than the original in nearly every way,
07:14whilst Rotten Tomatoes critics added,
07:16a distressingly ineffective sequel,
07:18that grows less and less interesting,
07:21and more and more tiresome as it unfolds.
07:23Still, the movie made a profit of $82 million,
07:26right as the company was making some weird changes.
07:30Despite their older games being low maintenance,
07:32Rovio decided to completely stop updating them.
07:36Then without explanation,
07:38some of the older beloved titles,
07:40including the original Angry Birds,
07:42were deleted from the App Store.
07:44When people began to talk about what they'd done,
07:47people made compilations stating Angry Birds was dead.
07:50There were comments like,
07:51remember when Rovio actually cared?
07:53Whilst hashtag bring back 2012,
07:55began a trend on Twitter.
07:57Things got so bad that Rovio apologized,
08:00stating they only did it as,
08:02maintaining the highest quality of updates,
08:04and live operations,
08:06isn't possible with our older games.
08:08In response to the backlash,
08:10they'd announced they planned on redeveloping,
08:12Angry Birds Classic,
08:14which was re-released on the App Store in 2022.
08:17But at a price of $199 with no in-game purchases,
08:21they'd changed Classic's name to Red's First Flight,
08:24making it harder to find in the App Store,
08:26thus prompting players to buy the newer,
08:28more profitable games.
08:30This successfully fooled some people,
08:32who struggled to find it on the App Store.
08:34However, others knew exactly what Angry Birds was doing.
08:38They got rid of the old ones,
08:40so that you would have no other choice,
08:42than to play the modern Candy Crush-esque games.
08:45They despised the games that made the company,
08:47and so lost its spirit.
08:49Rovio basically confirmed this,
08:52openly stating they changed the name,
08:54due to the game's impact on our wider games portfolio.
08:57They further requested that fans,
08:59continue to bring that passion,
09:01to our live Angry Birds slingshot games,
09:04such as Angry Birds 2.
09:06However, players weren't too happy.
09:08We hope those fans can continue to bring that passion,
09:11to our other games which have been designed,
09:13to be more psychologically manipulative,
09:16and stuffed with more microtransactions.
09:18Fixed it for you.
09:20The drama was so severe,
09:21it seemingly halted any future games,
09:24as Angry Birds Classic is still the most recent title,
09:27released way back in 2022.
09:30In 2023, Rovio was sold to Sega,
09:33although this has done little to fix their reputation.
09:36One recent tweet expressed,
09:38I very much still love Angry Birds.
09:40That said, the current state of it is dog shit.
09:43My hope for the franchise is at an all-time low right now.
09:46I'll just continue to enjoy what I love about it,
09:49but it's sad to see what it's become.
09:52Despite everything, Angry Birds isn't finished,
09:54as they just announced they're making a third movie,
09:57although with the rest of the franchise in decline,
10:00its performance might be interesting.