Angry Birds
Angry Birds is a video game series and media franchise created by Finnish game designer Jaakko Iisalo and owned by Rovio Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sega. The franchise primarily follows a flock of anthropomorphic flightless birds as they defend their nest of eggs from a species of green rotund pigs. A majority of the Angry Birds video games are puzzle games developed by Rovio and released for mobile devices, while other games and spinoffs have been developed by other studios and are in other genres such as racing, role-playing, and tile-matching. The franchise also includes other media such as merchandise, theme parks, television, and feature films.
The first game in the series, Angry Birds, was developed and released in 2009. After its success saved Rovio from bankruptcy, Angry Birds became their flagship franchise. Several puzzle successors followed, with the first spinoff, Bad Piggies, releasing in 2012. The first media adaptation, television series Angry Birds Toons, premiered in 2013. A theatrical film, The Angry Birds Movie, was released in 2016, followed by a sequel, The Angry Birds Movie 2, in 2019. A third film, The Angry Birds Movie 3, is scheduled for 2026.
Angry Birds is one of the highest-grossing media franchises. Its first game is considered one of the best games of all time, and its early successors have received positive critical reception. Thus, the franchise is frequently referenced in popular culture and has had multiple cross-promotions.
History
2009–2012: Conception and initial successors
The first game in the series, Angry Birds, was conceptualised as a result of Rovio Entertainment being in a state of bankruptcy. The idea originated from a sketch by designer Jaakko Iisalo, and its physics-based gameplay was inspired by the Adobe Flash game Crush the Castle.Following the game's success, Rovio Entertainment released its first successor, titled Angry Birds Halloween, exclusively for iOS on 21 October 2010. The game was later renamed to Angry Birds Seasons and was ported to Android devices in December 2010 alongside a Christmas-themed update. Multiple other Angry Birds titles would follow Seasons. In 2011, a tie-in with the film Rio, titled Angry Birds Rio, was developed by Rovio and released on 22 March. Following its release, The Independent reported that Angry Birds Rio had "the biggest launch ever for Rovio". Rio is the first of numerous Angry Birds crossovers, being followed by Angry Birds Star Wars and Angry Birds Transformers. The series' first spin-off, a game titled Bad Piggies starring the pigs, was released on 27 September 2012.
2013–2019: Adaptations and sequels
The video games received their first media adaptation in 2013 with the premiere of the animated television series Angry Birds Toons on 13 March. Following the series' announcement in 2012, head of animation Nick Dorra also confirmed that a feature film was in production, but would not release until after 2014. Rovio later announced two other animated series—Piggy Tales and Angry Birds Stella—alongside a second season of Angry Birds Toons, which were all released in 2014.On 16 July 2015, Rovio announced a direct sequel to the original Angry Birds game, titled Angry Birds 2, which was slated for a full release on 30 July. Following the sequel, the teaser trailer for The Angry Birds Movie was released, receiving negative reception. The Angry Birds Movie was released in theatres by Sony Pictures Releasing on 20 May 2016. A tie-in prequel game featuring augmented reality gameplay and the film's character designs, titled Angry Birds Action!, was released for mobile devices in 2016 to promote the film's release. The following year, in 2017, a sequel to The Angry Birds Movie was announced, scheduled for a theatrical release on 20 September 2019.
2019–2023: Discontinuation of legacy titles
In 2019, several early games from the franchise—such as Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons—were delisted from app stores due to Rovio being unable to update them to match modern standards. This resulted in negative backlash, to which Rovio responded by announcing remakes of the discontinued titles. The first of these remakes, Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, was developed by Rovio using the Unity game engine and was released for iOS and Android on 31 March 2022. In February 2023, however, the remake was delisted from Google Play, whilst being renamed to Red's First Flight on the App Store. This was due to the remake having a negative impact on other Angry Birds games by being prioritised over them in search results.2023–2024: Sega acquisition
In August 2023, Sega completed their acquisition of Rovio Entertainment for million. In 2024, a crossover event between mobile games in the Angry Birds and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchises was held from 14–21 March; Angry Birds characters were featured as unlockable player characters in Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, while Sonic-themed elements such as levels and power-ups were added to Angry Birds Friends, Angry Birds 2, and Angry Birds Dream Blast. Later that year, The Angry Birds Movie 3 was announced to be in production, with Sega producing alongside Rovio and Namit Malhotra.Video games
, the Angry Birds series has received over twenty instalments. This includes several follow-ups, spinoffs, and crossovers with other franchises.Promotional
From 2011 to 2017, Angry Birds collaborated with many other companies and released variations of the original game in the respective collaborators' theme. Most of them were Flash-based, and all of them featured exclusive levels and elements that aided in promotion.- Angry Birds Chrome
- Angry Birds Google+
- Angry Birds Free with Magic
- Angry Birds Volcano
- Angry Birds Breakfast
- Angry Birds in The Hunt For The Golden Pistachio
- Angry Birds Vuela Tazos
- Angry Birds Cheetos
- Angry Birds Lotus F1 Team
- Angry Birds McDonald's
- Angry Birds Coca-Cola
- Angry Birds Heikki
- Angry Birds Telepizza
- Angry Birds Fuji TV
- Angry Birds in Ultrabook Adventure
- Angry Birds Philadelphia Eagles
- Angry Birds Starburst
- ''Angry Birds Radox''
Media
Television
Angry Birds Toons, a TV series based on the game, made its debut on 16 March 2013. Angry Birds Toons was 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 still accessible on mobile devices by an additional Angry Birds Toons channel on all of the Angry Birds apps homescreens. The DVD versions of the TV series were 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, an animated series telling the stories of Stella's life and that of her friends on their own island.
On 3 July 2015, Rovio released the Rocket Science Show, an educational live-action-animated series, the NASA tell viewers facts about planets in the Solar System.
On 12 July 2015, Real Angry Birds, inspired by the game Angry Birds, premiered on Nat Geo Wild.
In 2016, Rovio released Fun Game Coding, another educational live-action-animated series, containing insightful instructions from tech-savvy Rovio employees.
On 10 March 2017, Rovio released Angry Birds Blues, an animated series based on The Angry Birds Movie. It shows the lives of the Blues having fun, while the Hatchlings were doing random stuff and ruining their plans.
On 3 July 2017, Netflix and KidsClick picked up every Angry Birds Toons, Angry Birds Stella, and Piggy Tales episode in the form of 23 compilations.
On 1 June 2018, U.S. television production company Big Fish Entertainment announced that they would be partnering with Rovio to create a game show based on Angry Birds currently called Angry Birds Challenge.
On 9 June 2018, a series titled Angry Birds BirLd Cup was released on YouTube. It follows two teams of rambunctious kids ready to put their soccer skills to the test. With Everton stars Wayne Rooney, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Tom Davies, and Cenk Tosun on hand to lend their expertise and officiate the competition, the two teams will go head to head in a series of soccer-centric challenges to earn points. The team that scores the most points will claim the illustrious BirLd Cup, and BirLdwide acclaim.
On 3 October 2018, a short, three-episode series titled Angry Birds Zero Gravity was released on YouTube.
On 17 November 2018, a series titled Angry Birds on the Run was released on YouTube. The series focuses on the birds being sent to the real world from a girl's phone, causing mayhem while the pigs are looking for them.
In late 2018, Rovio announced that a new, long-form Angry Birds television series titled Angry Birds: Summer Madness is in production and was originally set for release in 2021 on Netflix. It was pushed and was released in January 2022. It focuses on Red, Stella, Bomb, and Chuck as teenagers in summer camp causing mayhem with their teacher being the Mighty Eagle.
On 1 June 2019, a series titled Angry Birds MakerSpace was released on YouTube. It features the birds and pigs working together in a shared workspace.
On 18 January 2020, a series titled Angry Birds Slingshot Stories was released on YouTube. It features structures from the original Angry Birds game and shows the birds and pigs' life outside the levels.
On 31 August 2020, a new series titled Angry Birds Bubble Trouble was released on Amazon Freetime Unlimited and YouTube. It shows Red, Chuck, Bomb, Silver, and Stella in their Dream Blast designs having fun and dreaming.
On 6 June 2023, a new long-form television series titled Angry Birds Mystery Island was announced, which was released on Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Kids+ on 21 May 2024. The series focus on a new group of Hatchlings, trying to survive on an uncharted island.