Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish company Rovio Entertainment. The series focuses on multi-colored birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by Crush the Castle,^[2] the game has been praised for its successful combination of fun gameplay, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to many spin-offs, versions of Angry Birds being created for PCs and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters, a televised cartoon series, and a feature film. In January 2014 there had been over two billion downloads across all platforms, including both regular and special editions:^[3][4] as of July 2015, the series’ games have been downloaded more than three billion times collectively,^[5] making it the most downloaded freemium game series of all time. The original Angry Birds has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now",^[6] "one of the great runaway hits of 2010",^[7] and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".^[8] An animated feature film based on the series was released by Columbia Pictures on 20 May 2016, and the first main-series sequel, Angry Birds 2, was released on 30 July 2015.

The first game in the series was initially released in December 2009 for Apple iOS.^[9] The company then released ports of the game for other touchscreen smartphone operating systems, including Android, Symbian, and Windows Phone, then video game consoles and PCs.

Video games

Spin-offs

Compilations

Cancelled

The following games were soft-launched in select countries in 2016 or 2017, but for each of them, Rovio decided not to move forward with a final, worldwide release:

• Angry Birds Football, an association football game involving birds as they appear in The Angry Birds Movie^[25]
• Angry Birds Ace Fighter, a top-down scrolling shoot 'em up game^[26]
• Angry Birds Holiday, an endless business management simulator involving most Angry Birds characters as they appear in The Angry Birds Movie, who run vacation resort services for incoming pigs to distract them from the eggs.
• Angry Birds Islands, a village building game where birds and pigs work together. The pigs will collect and create resources, while birds fight monsters to rescue piglets, or deliver resources in quests.^[27]

Media

Rovio is investigating ways to expand the Angry Birds brand, including merchandise, television shows and movies. Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile, has envisioned a feature film in the stop-motion animation style of Aardman Animation.^[28] To that end, Rovio has purchased a Helsinki-based animation studio to prepare Angry Birds short cartoons on the Nicktoons station's Nickelodeon Extra,^[29] the first of which was a Christmas special named "Wreck the Halls" that debuted in December 2011.^[30] Hed acknowledges that such a film would be years away, and that Rovio must keep the characters relevant until then, by producing sequels or new ports of the original game.^[28]

Television adaptation

Angry Birds Toons, a TV series based on the game, made its debut on 16 March 2013. Toons is released through third-party video distribution platforms, including Comcast's Xfinity On-Demand in the US, Samsung Smart TVs, and Roku set-top boxes. It is also available in a number of countries on traditional television broadcasts. Angry Birds Toons is available on mobile devices by an additional Toons channel on all of the Angry Birds apps homescreens.^[3] DVD version for the TV series was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The series has a total of 3 seasons.

On 11 April 2014, Rovio released "Piggy Tales", a stop motion animated series. It tells the stories of the Minion Pigs' life.

On 1 November 2014, Rovio released "Angry Birds Stella", a 2D/3D animated series, telling the stories of Stella's life and that of her friends on their own island.

Real Angry Birds, inspired by the game Angry Birds, premiered on Nat Geo Wild on 12 July 2015.

Film adaptation

A 3D computer-animated film adaptation, The Angry Birds Movie, was released on 20 May 2016.^[31] Developed, produced and financed by Rovio Entertainment,^[31] it is animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks^[32] and distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Entertainment under their Columbia Pictures banner.^[31] It is directed by animation veterans Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly in their directorial debut.^[33] Jon Vitti wrote the film's screenplay,^[34] and John Cohen^[35] and Catherine Winder^[34] served as the producers.^[33] Rovio also hired David Maisel, former executive producer of Marvel Studios films such as Iron Man, to be the executive producer of its feature-length films.^[35] A sequel is scheduled to be released on September 20, 2019.^[36][37]

Merchandise

Toys adaptation

There have been several toys made from Angry Birds characters.^[28] The game's official website offers plush versions of the birds and pigs for sale, along with T-shirts featuring the game's logo and characters.^[38] In May 2011, Mattel released an Angry Birds board game, entitled "Angry Birds: Knock on Wood".^[39] Over 10 million Angry Birds toys have been sold thus far.^[29] Rovio opened the first official Angry Birds retail store in Helsinki on 11 November 2011 at 11:11am local time.^[40] It expects to open its next retail store somewhere in China, considered the game's fastest-growing market.^[40] Merchandise has been successful, with 45% of Rovio's revenues in 2012 coming from branded merchandise.^[41]

The most notable toys are the Telepods, created by Hasbro. These figures are created for Angry Birds Star Wars II,^[42] Angry Birds Go!, Angry Birds Stella, and Angry Birds Transformers.^[43] Telepods use a similar digital toy hybrid concept as Skylanders or Disney Infinity characters, but there is a different technology behind it.^[44] These are figures used to "teleport" a character of the corresponding figure into the game by scanning a tiny QR code via the device's camera. The Telepod platform technology was invented by ReToy, a bMuse company, in partnership with Hasbro.^[45] Telepods figures are not only for this use, but can also be used with the toy set that comes with the toy, like other Angry Birds board games.

One of the 2012 New Models for Hot Wheels cars from Mattel is based on the Red, Blue, and Yellow Birds from Angry Birds. The package card bears both the Hot Wheels and Angry Birds logo.

In 2016, Lego released six sets based on The Angry Birds Movie.^[46]

Print publications adaptation

On 2011, Rovio published a cookbook titled "Bad Piggies: Egg Recipes", along with doodle books based on some characters of the game. After a few weeks of the release of Angry Birds Space, they also released Angry Birds Space books about numbers, alphabets, and stickers.

On 20 March 2012, National Geographic published a paperback book titled Angry Birds Space: A Furious Flight Into The Final Frontier^[47][48] shortly before the release of Angry Birds Space which became available on 22 March 2012. National Geographic also has a book titled Angry Birds Feathered Fun for learning all about birds.^[49]

In the same year, Rovio created a contest with the prize Angry Birds: Hatching a Universe, a book about the franchise and all the characters.

As of 10 March 2014, IDW Publishing announced^[50] that they will be publishing Angry Birds Comics starting in June 2014, with Paul Tobin being the writer.^[51]

Food products adaptation

In early 2012, Olvi started to manufacture Angry Birds soft drinks, after licensing with Rovio^[52] with two different tastes: Tropic (tropical fruits)^[52] and Paradise (pineapple-mandarin).^[52] In September 2012 Olvi released two new tastes to the soft drink collection: Lagoon (pear-apple) and Space Comet (orange-cola).^[53][54]

Parks and attractions

Angry Birds Land adaptation

Most recently it was announced that UK theme park Thorpe Park would open their own Angry Birds Land themed area within the park in May 2014. The new area consists of the reinstatement of the 4D Cinema with a 10-minute-long Angry Birds film with 4D effects, a new addition of themed Angry Birds Dodgems and a slight re-theme of existing drop tower ride Detonator.

Angry Birds Activity Park adaptation

Rovio also opened "Activity Parks" of the game. The first one was opened in Lightwater Valley^[58] that features dancefloors, and playgrounds that includes slides, and massive touchscreen devices for visitors to play Angry Birds. They also have Angry Birds Space attractions as part of the activity park, with a mini movie theater. They also include shops for Angry Birds merchandise and Birthday party rooms. The attraction also opened in Vuokatti and holiday clubs. Vuokatti features obstacle courses and races,^[59] and a separate "Angry Birds Town" with cars for kids to ride.

Angry Birds Space Encounter adaptation

On June 2013, Rovio and NASA opened an Angry Birds Space-themed park at the Kennedy Space Center titled "Angry Birds Space Encounter".^[60] It features various experiences to the Angry Birds Space video game, such as creating characters and shooting birds at pigs. The attraction was also opened in the Space Center Houston.

Global impact

Television

The Angry Birds characters have been referenced in television programs throughout the world. The Israeli comedy show Eretz Nehederet (in English: a Wonderful Country), one of the nation's most popular TV programs, satirized recent failed Israeli-Palestinian peace attempts by featuring the Angry Birds in peace negotiations with the pigs. Clips of the segment went viral, getting viewers from all around the world. The sketch received favorable coverage from a variety of independent blogs such as digitaltrends.com,^[6] hotair.com^[61] and intomobile.com,^[62] as well as from online news media agencies such as Haaretz,^[63] The Christian Science Monitor,^[7] The Guardian,^[64] and MSNBC.^[65] American television hosts Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Daniel Tosh have referenced the game in comedy sketches on their respective series, Conan, The Daily Show, and Tosh.0.^[66][67][68] In the 30 Rock episode "Plan B", guest star Aaron Sorkin laments to Liz Lemon, "Our craft is dying while people are playing Angry Birds and poking each other on Facebook". He then provides a tip for Liz to improve her score in the game.^{[citation needed]} In February 2011, American journalist Jake Tapper mockingly introduced U.S. Senator Chris Coons as the "Angry Birds champion of the Senate" during the National Press Club's annual dinner.^[69] Some of the game's more notable fans include Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom, who plays the iPad version of the game, and author Salman Rushdie, who claims he is "something of a master at Angry Birds".^[70] Basketball star Kevin Durant is an avid fan of Angry Birds, and regularly plays other NBA stars in matches, although he is weary of cheating.^[71] In August 2011, the Milwaukee Brewers played the Angry Birds theme song during the pre-game introductions of the arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals players, in reference to former Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa's propensity to bean opposing players.^{[citation needed]} Angry Birds also appears briefly, for comic relief, during a scene in the 2013 film G.I. Joe: Retaliation, in which Zartan plays the game while waiting for the world leaders' response to his threats of annihilation.^{[citation needed]} Angry Birds were featured in the 2013 Helsinki episode of Veep.^{[citation needed]} Angry Birds was referenced in the film The Starving Games, a parody of The Hunger Games.^{[citation needed]} A group in the Indian show Dance+ have done a dance based on Angry Birds.^{[citation needed]}. Angry Birds was referenced in the Family Guy episode Turban Cowboy when after failed sky diving attempt by Peter results in him landing in a level.

Advertisements

Angry Birds and its characters have been featured in advertisements for other products. In March 2011, the characters began appearing in a series of advertisements for Microsoft's Bing search engine.^[72] At the 2011 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Nokia used scrims on a downtown building to project an advertisement for its new N8 handset that included the game's characters.^[73] A June 2011 T-Mobile advertisement filmed in Barcelona, Spain included a real-life mock-up of the game in a city plaza,^[74] while Nokia used the game in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to promote an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of people playing a single mobile game.^[75] Finnair has also used Angry Birds in their advertising, including taping an Airbus A340 airliner with the Angry Birds figures and holding an Angry Birds tournament on board a flight to Singapore.^[76] Rovio has also prepared a number of web-based promotional variants of Angry Birds themed around creations of other companies, such as Finnish snack company Fazer,^[77] Spanish pizza delivery chain Telepizza,^[78] and Japanese television network Fuji TV,^[79] as well as promotions of American brands including Cheetos,^[80] Wonderful Pistachios^[81] and Coca-Cola.^[82] On November 2013, Indian brand Parle started a marketing campaign in which a trading card is included in each packet of Parle's Wafers and it included a related contest to win Angry Birds merchandise.^[83] In February 2016, Cadbury India had Angry Birds small figurines or tattoos in Cadbury Gems packs or Surprise balls.^[84] In June 2016, Kurkure India started an offer to win daily themed prizes and a trip to Angry Birds Activity Park in Malaysia.^[85]

Sports

Finnish Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen used an Angry Birds-themed helmet in the 2012 season, following a sponsorship deal with Rovio. Angry Birds also sponsored the Lotus F1 Team that year, with its logo on the top of each Lotus Renault F1 car's nosecone. As part of the deal, Fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen ran an Angry Birds 'Space' logo on his branded caps.^[86]

Hockey Bird, an angry hockey playing bird, was the official mascot of the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships. It was designed by Toni Kysenius and Rovio Entertainment.^[87]

Video games

The game's popularity has spawned knock-off and parody games that utilize the same basic mechanics as Angry Birds. For example, Angry Turds features monkeys hurling feces and other objects at hunters who have stolen their babies.^[88] Another game, entitled Chicks'n'Vixens and released in beta form on Windows Phone devices, replaces the birds and pigs with chickens and foxes, respectively.^[89] The developer of Chicks'n'Vixens intended the game as a challenge to Rovio Mobile, which stated at the time that a Windows Phone port of Angry Birds would not be ready until later in 2011.^[89] The Angry Birds theme song (Balkan Blast Remix) and its characters appear in Just Dance 2016.^[90]

Religion

Angry Birds has inspired works of religious analogy. A five-part essay entitled "Angry Birds Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life" was written by Giridhari Dasa of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness of Brazil, utilizing the characters and gameplay mechanics to explain various concepts of yoga in Gaudiya Vaishnavism as understood and interpreted by the Hare Krishna.^{[91][92][93][94][95]} The piece attracted much media attention, in Brazil and abroad, for its unique method of philosophico-religious presentation.^{[96][97][98][99]} The piece was also recognized and appreciated by Rovio Mobile's Peter Vesterbacka, who was prompted to comment on Twitter, "Very cool! I can see Angry Birds Yoga becoming a worldwide craze;-)".^[91]

Controversy

Leaking user data

In January 2014, it was revealed that Angry Birds was considered a "leaky app" and was used to collect data about its users including their sexual orientation and location by the NSA and GCHQ. In retaliation, anti-NSA hackers defaced Rovio's website. Claims were made by Edward Snowden that the app was leaky and that they were capable of siphoning off data.^[100]

According to The Register, the information was leaked through the in-game advertisement code like that embedded by Millennial Media: "Millennial's tracking software generates a personal record for each user that can store information from their political affiliation and sexual orientation to whether their marital state was single, married, divorced, engaged or 'swinger'. This information is used to target in-app ads more effectively, and can be collected by UK and US intelligence agencies for analysis".^[101] In a statement to the press, Rovio denied that they were themselves providing any information to the intelligence agencies, but did not exclude the possibility that their advertisers might do so.^[102]

Following this revelation, on 29 January, the Angry Birds site was defaced by hackers who replaced it with "Spying Birds" via a DNS hijacking attack. According to Rovio, "The defacement was caught in minutes and corrected immediately".^[102] The Syrian Electronic Army tweeted after the incident that the attack had been carried out by "a friend" of theirs.^[103]

See also