Angry Birds 2 was launched on July 30 on iOS and Android. (Photo : Facebook)
Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish mobile gaming company behind "Angry Birds," is hoping to bounce back from a difficult 2014 by tailoring "Angry Birds 2" to fit local consumers.
In 2014, Rovio reported a 73-percent drop in earnings due to a decline in the licensing of the "Angry Birds" brand. As a result, the company was forced to cut 110 jobs.
Alex Lambeek, the company's chief commercial officer, has announced that the company is going local.
"We have the building capability to scale into parts of the world where we haven't been strong in the past and a big part of that is actually working with partners, not trying to do everything ourselves," said Lambeek.
"Angry Birds" was released in 2009 and became a hit in many parts of the world. It allowed players to use a virtual slingshot to fling different types of birds at the pigs that stole their eggs.
Released last month, "Angry Birds 2" adds more characters, includes high-definition scenes and allows the player to compete with friends and choose the order of birds.
China is currently the top market for "Angry Birds 2," accounting for a third of nearly 40 million downloads. This fraction of the total market is consistent with "Angry Birds," which saw almost one billion Chinese downloads out of three billion total game downloads since the game was introduced in 2009.
Lambeek said that, for "Angry Birds 2," Rovio parnered with Chinese mobile gaming company Kunlun Inc. to help localize the game by making changes within the prompts and language in order to match the way Chinese players are used to gaming.
He said that Chinese customers "want to be spoken to and listened to in their own language with their own specific humor."
The game has recruited Chinese actor-singer Li Yifeng to market the game, offering fans who have Kunlun accounts the opportunity to play against him.
In Taiwan, players can use their Facebook and Yahoo accounts to log in to the game.
Rovio hopes that "Angry Birds 2" revives interest in the Angry Birds brand in time for May 2016's release of "The Angry Birds Movie."
