Rovio has closed its Copenhagen studio after cancelling its cellular title Sonic Blitz.
A spokesperson told Mobilegamer.biz that, because the redundancy course of is ongoing, they can not affirm the precise variety of employees affected. Nonetheless, roughly 20 workers had been engaged on Sonic Blitz.
“The choice to discontinue our operations in Copenhagen has been extraordinarily tough,” the spokesperson stated. “We totally recognise the affect this has on our staff, particularly given the continuing challenges inside the broader video games business.”
“For staff members who we can not allocate to a brand new undertaking inside Rovio, we are going to present a complete transition package deal, together with devoted outplacement companies and wellbeing help to help them in securing their subsequent profession alternatives.”
Rovio CEO and Sega West COO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand stated that it “want[ed] to pay attention our bets each by way of the video games that we’re making and the place we’re making them.”
“When [Sonic Blitz] was launched into the model, we felt that this was a terrific addition and one that would please the Sonic fandom,” he stated.
“That was the speculation. And in cellular, it seems to be nice on paper, and then you definitely simply have to validate it, and plainly retention hasn’t been actually good for us, which is likely one of the first steps. We have to see folks interact with the sport for an extended time frame.”
Pelletier-Normand continued: “I nonetheless am satisfied that there’s a solution to attain extra gamers on cellular with Sonic, it seems that it is way more sophisticated than I believe each Sega and Rovio thought. We’re nonetheless very happy with the sport, very happy with what the staff achieved, nevertheless it didn’t work.”
Sonic Blitz soft launched in 2025 in the Philippines and Brazil, however was shut down last month. Rovio acknowledged that this choice was a part of a “broader change” on the studio.
“We need to be clear that this choice will not be a mirrored image of the fervour, creativity or effort that went into making Sonic Blitz, nor the wonderful help we obtained from our group all through the event of the sport,” the developer stated.
Sega acquired Rovio for $776 million in 2023. Earlier this yr, Sega reported a $200 million impairment on the acquisition cost after profitability “fell under the preliminary forecast.”
Sega reported challenges integrating Rovio’s Beacon know-how with its personal cellular titles.
“We discovered that the operational and advertising and marketing strategies and approaches considerably differ from Rovio titles and new cellular video games are but to completely exploit Beacon,” stated Sega CEO Haruki Satomi.
“Consequently, now we have sadly not achieved the extent of outcomes that had been anticipated previous to the acquisition.”
Hi, I’m Rishab. I’m a passionate pc gamer and an avid video game content writer. I have been involved with video games for over 2 decades now, and even today, after playing an astronomical number of games over the years, I’m still eager for more. In my free time, you will find me enjoying a hot cup of coffee and playing my favorite relaxing fishing game, Dave the Diver.
