Popular mobile phone game, Angry Birds, has had such success that its Finnish developers, Rovio Entertainment, have recently entered into contracts to build Angry Birds theme parks. The company, which was on the verge of bankruptcy when they produced Angry Birds as a do-or-die project in 2009, have had phenomenal success since its release. The game has swollen the company’s expected worth to $9 billion and the company has imminent plans to launch an IPO.

Coinciding with an emerging popularity in touch-screen smartphones, Angry Birds rapidly shot to fame in both the tablet and phone gaming market. It was first released on iOS and later in Android and PSP (PlayStation Portable) versions. The game has been hailed the ‘largest mobile app success’, having crossed the one billion total downloads mark (across all platforms)

This simple game where a wingless bird is slingshot at targets has, for some reason,had monumental success. It is not immediately obvious why Angry Birds would appeal to adults, though it has great entertainment value. Simple game-play and humorous characters are among some of its main selling points. Rovio Entertainment has also released special versions of the game, including the recent ‘Angry Birds Space: Red Planet Expansion’. The very latest called Bad Piggies will be released in the last week of September. It gives gamers a unique experience to play using the pigs.

However, application development is not the only way that Rovio has been capitalizing on Angry Bird’s success. We have seen a wide range of product merchandising, from Angry Birds soft drinks to cartoons,and physical toys. Rovio has also signed a merchandising deal with Wal-Mart that will mean the largest retailer in the world will now also be selling Rovio’s products.

The CMO of the company plans to expand and develop Angry Birds in a fashion similar to Disney.After a run of successful short animations on YouTube, there is now word that Rovio intends to produce full-length Angry Birds movie. The company also premiered an Angry Bird theme park in Finland in May 2012; soon after,a second was inaugurated in Britain. According to Rovio, further theme parks are planned in Asia, Europe, and USA.

Rovio seems to be squeezing money out of Angry Birds for as long as it can, but the management team have also realized that in order to keep up with the market they need to produce more phenomenally successful games. They recently bought intellectual property rights to an old mobile phone game called Amazing Alex, which Rovio are revamping, and are expected to launch in a couple of months. It remains to be seen whether a company that lacks original ideas can actually maintain momentum in an industry where fortunes continue to be made and lost so fast and furiously.