Angry Birds maker Rovio replaces chief executive Mikael Hed amid profit fall
News flapping its way out of Finland – the maker of hit game Angry Birds Rovio, has replaced chief executive Mikael Hed in a bid to stem falling profits.
Pekka Rantala, the game studio’s chief commercial officer who joined in May, will replace Hed at the beginning of 2015 with the pair working together until then. Rantala is a veteran of Finland's other well known brand, Nokia.
Hed, who also helped found Rovio, won’t be landing too far away however. He will become chairman of its animation and movie studio which produces the animated TV series based on the hugely successful Angry Birds game (a movie version is due in 2016). He may also become a board director at the behest of chairman Kaj Hed.
“It has been an amazing ride and in the coming months I will be very happy to pass the hoodie to Pekka Rantala, who will take Rovio to the next level,” said Hed.
Rovio reported profits of €26.9m (£22.1m) for 2013, falling by half on the previous year. It's not just Rovio that’s suffering however, it's a wider trend in the nascent mobile gaming industry.
While mobile games companies have risen from nowhere as meteorically as their games in the app store charts, many have struggled to sustain that and translate it into long-term growth.
British start up darling King Digital, maker of Candy Crush Saga, has struggled with poor results since going public earlier this year.
Another developer, Zynga, which found fame with Farmville has also failed to keep investors on board with a 34 per cent drop in revenue in the quarter to 30 June, missing expectations.
Rovio has expanded Angry Birds as a brand beyond gaming – from theme parks to soft drinks in addition to media – cushioning the blow of a fall in revenue on the gaming side.
The Helsinki-based company is now pinning its hopes on a new chief returning the company to the top flight in the face of fickle mobile game players looking for the next Angry Birds, Candy Crush or Swing Copters.