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Rovio
Angry Birds maker Rovio had a somewhat down year financially in 2013, but it wasn’t necessarily due to poor business performance, the company says.
Rovio generated 156 million euros ($216.3 million) in revenue in 2013, up slightly from the 152.2 million euros it nabbed in 2012, the company announced Monday. Net profit on the year was down to 26.9 million euros, a more-than 50 percent decline compared with the 55.5 million euro profit the company posted in 2012.
Despite the disappointing year on paper, Rovio says it wasn’t due to poor performance. The company says that it spent more cash last year building a “foundation” for future growth. In particular, Rovio built an animation and video distribution business in Los Angeles that’s currently working on the first Angry Birds feature film. The movie is slated to premiere in July 2016.
Rovio also made some significant changes to its core games business. The company now offers a third-party games publishing program called Rovio Stars and increased investment in free-to-play games.
Spending seemed to be the name of the game in 2013 for Rovio. The company expanded its employee base from 500 people to 800 and opened six “activity parks.”
“Future business will, for the most part, depend on how well last year’s investments perform and how our new properties delight our audiences,” Rovio CFO Herkko Soininen said in a statement Monday. “We are actively investing in the company to increase our capabilities for the future.”
One other important tidbit: Angry Birds, the franchise that helped Rovio become such a prominent player in the gaming business, has exceeded 2 billion downloads in its lifetime.
CNET has contacted Rovio for additional comment on the financials. We will update this story when we have more information.
