Games’ overall performance in line with a soft market in Q4 – Angry Birds Dream Blast took off
Alex Pelletier-Normand, CEO
In 2022, we maneuvered well through diverse uncertainties. The mobile gaming market declined compared to the previous year for the first time ever. Rovio’s strategy, focusing on widely appealing casual games and the strong Angry Birds brand, allowed us to outperform the market. All our three top live games – Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Dream Blast and Angry Birds Friends – made record-high revenue during the year. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all Rovians for their commitment and efforts.
The market showed signs of stabilization
The mobile gaming market showed signs of stabilization towards the end of the year. In the fourth quarter, the global market declined by 1% sequentially, while in the US it increased by 2%. After five consecutive quarters of decline, it was encouraging to see the US market turn to slight growth; however, near-term development remains uncertain.
Strong growth of Angry Birds Dream Blast continued
In the fourth quarter, our games’ comparable gross bookings grew by 5.4% compared to the previous quarter but decreased by 7.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, outperforming our largest market, the US, which declined by 11%. At the same time, we saw opportunities and were able to increase our investments in user acquisition. Those investments coupled with our increased focus on our live games have started to pay off: Angry Birds Dream Blast had an amazing second half of the year and grew by 33% in gross bookings in the last quarter. Next, we will try to scale these learnings and duplicate the success with our other top live games.
Game development progressing
Our work on new game titles is progressing. Moomin: Puzzle & Design is being prepared for the next soft launch test in Japan. Ruby Games’ latest hybrid-casual game Wizard Hero already entered soft launch with promising early results, while the two new Hunter Assassin games continue in soft launch. Bad Piggies 2 is approaching soft launch as well.
Focused investments in 2023
As the economy recovers, we are expecting 2023 to be a stable year for the mobile gaming market. With a rich pipeline of new titles, our strong brand, and the growth potential of our top live games, we are confident that we can continue to perform well in those conditions. We will continue to invest in projects showing signs of growth, such as our top live games, while remaining disciplined with our investments in new titles, focusing our efforts on brands and projects that show strong market traction. Despite the short-term headwinds, mobile continues to be the largest and fastest growing gaming segment, which we intend to take advantage of.
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