2014–present: decline, initial public offering and acquisition by Sega
In August 2014, Rovio announced that Mikael Hed would step down as CEO in January 2015 in favour of Pekka Rantala.[22] Hed remained on Rovio's board and became the chairman of Rovio Animation. In December 2014, Rovio laid off 110 employees after net profits halved in 2013 due to its recent games, Angry Birds Epic and Angry Birds Go!, which were not as successful as past games.[23] After this move, Rovio closed its Tampere studio, moving its operations to its Espoo location. At the end of 2014, Rovio suffered from a 73% decrease in profit, earning only €10 million. Pekka Rantala stated that the decrease is due to the poor sales of the licensed merchandise and the by-products of Angry Birds. He also noted that "the company are unsatisfied over the result of our licensing business".[24] In August 2015, Rovio laid off 260 employees worldwide after Angry Birds toy and merchandise revenue fell by 43% during 2014.[25] In December 2015, Rantala announced that he would step down as the CEO and would be succeeded by Kati Levoranta, former chief legal officer of Rovio, in January 2016.[26]
On 16 January 2017, Rovio opened its new game studio in London to focus on massively multiplayer online games.[27] On 15 February, Rovio announced that it will be cutting at least 35 jobs as it restructures the animation division.[28] In March, Kaiken Entertainment, founded by former Rovio CEO Mikael Hed, acquired Rovio's animation division.[29] Later that month Rovio reported that it has returned to profitability with a gross revenue of US$201 million with the success of The Angry Birds Movie and its recent video games.[30] In June, Kaj Hed resigned as chairman of Rovio and Mika Ihamuotila succeeded him as new chairman.[31] On 5 September, Rovio announced its intention to become a publicly traded company.[32] In October, Rovio shares were sold at NASDAQ Helsinki[33]
On 2 March 2018, Rovio announced the closure of its London studio after disappointing results.[35] Later on 14 November, Rovio announced that it appointed the former Gameloft executive Alexandre Pelletier-Normand as executive vice president of its game business unit. He started his role on January 2, 2019.[36] On 30 November 2018, Rovio announced that it had fully acquired PlayRaven, the developer known for making strategy games such as Eve: War of Ascension.[37]
On 3 June 2020, Rovio acquired Darkfire Games for an undisclosed sum. The subsidiary became Rovio Copenhagen.[38] On 21 December Rovio announced that Executive Vice President of games, Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, would take over as CEO. The change went into effect on January 1, 2021.[39] In 2021, the New Mexico attorney general filed a federal lawsuit against Rovio, alleging the company illegally collected and sold private personal data of users under thirteen to third party advertisers.[40] The same year, Rovio acquired Turkish casual game developer Ruby Games.[41]
On 15 April 2023, IGN reported that Sega would be acquiring Rovio, with a deal close to $1 billion. Rovio had rejected an earlier acquisition bid from Israeli mobile company Playtika for $800 million.[42] Two days later Sega Sammy Holdings announced that they have made a €706 million ($776 million USD) tender offer to bid for Rovio, which closed on 17 August.[3] On December 7, Rovio closed down the Montreal based division Studio Lumi leading to the loss of 16 jobs.[43][44] On January 8, 2026, Rovio announced that it has merged its Angry Birds licensing team into Sega's global character licensing business.[45] By February 2026, Sega announced it would record a $200 million impairment write-down for Rovio during Q3[46]
