Rovio, the Finnish company behind the Angry Birds franchise, announced today that it is letting go of another 260 people (it cut roughly half as many jobs late last year).
Despite the apparent success of its Angry Birds 2 game (almost 50 million downloads in just one month since its release, Rovio says), the Nordic gaming giant says it wants to "restructure and concentrate its activities around three primary business areas: games, media and consumer products".
Rovio adds that the negotiations for the 260 planned redundancies apply to the whole organization, "excluding those working on the production" of the Angry Birds movie in the US and Canada.
The film, with a reported budget of around €75 million, is slated for release in May 2016.
“This is personally a difficult decision. However, it is certain that a leaner and more agile Rovio is absolutely necessary to move forward and take the company to new successes in the future. We will work with and support all our employees through this period of change,” Rovio CEO Pekka Rantala says in a statement.
“Rovio’s growth and eagerness to explore new business opportunities over the past few years has been exceptional,” Rantala adds. “As a result, we did too many things. In our current financial condition we must now put focus on where we are at our best: in creating magnificent gaming experiences, in producing an amazing animation movie and in delighting our fans with great products.”
In 2014, Rovio’s revenue dropped 9%, and its operating profit a whopping 74% as a result of falling interest in its consumer by-products.
Sales and profits were impacted primarily by a painful year-on-year decline of its consumer product licensing revenues. All in all, operating profit in 2014 dropped to a mere €10 million, compared to €36.5 million the previous year.
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