Goro Majima from the Yakuza franchise had us grinning at the news, his popularity after his last adventure in Hawaii making him a fine choice. There’s also Red from Angry Birds, and Arle from Puyo Puyo, for those of you who can’t get enough of them. Each of them brings their own unique vehicles to the table, which are bound to create the scope for some crazy new combinations with existing characters. We’re curious to see how each character’s stats manage to make them competitive additions to the game’s expanding roster.

The new vehicles are quite impressive, each one themed to the character driving it. Majima’s is part of the reason we’re stoked to have him join CrossWorlds, and his ride looks like it could ‘sail’ through the game’s timeline-spanning shenanigans.

There are also some new tunes coming your way, and you can access them from the in-game jukebox. You can see when your personal pick of the three new characters is coming in the trailer below. If you can’t, Red and Majima are out in April, with Arle arriving in May.

Sega is looking to acquire Rovio in its entirety in a deal worth €706 million, which roughly translates to a little over $775 million (as opposed to the previously reported $1 billion price). Sega confirms in its announcement that the acquisition is “a friendly takeover” and one that Rovio’s board of directors has “agreed to” and “expressed support towards”.

Unsurprisingly, Rovio’s ownership of the Angry Birds IP and its presence in the mobile gaming space are key to the acquisition. Sega says it “aims to accelerate its growth in the global gaming market and increase its corporate value by generating synergies between SEGA’s existing businesses and Rovio’s strengths, including its global IPs and live-operated mobile game development capabilities.”

The company will look to utilize Rovio’s “distinctive know-how in live service mobile game operation, to bring SEGA’s current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market, where there is large potential, and many users can be accessed.” It also intends to support cross-platform expansions of Rovio’s IPs and help both Rovio and Sega itself expand their IPs across media.

Sega’s president and CEO Haruki Satomi said: “Among the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been SEGA’s long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field. I feel blessed to be able to announce such a transaction with Rovio, a company that owns Angry Birds, which is loved across the world, and home to many skilled employees that support the company’s industry leading mobile game development and operating capabilities. Historically, as represented by the Sonic the Hedgehog series, SEGA has released countless video game titles to various gaming platforms. I am confident that, through combination of both companies’ brands, characters, fanbase, as well as corporate culture and functionality, there will be significant synergies created going forward.”

Rovio’s CEO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand said: “I grew up playing Sonic the Hedgehog, captivated by its state-of-the-art design. Later, when I played Angry Birds for the first time, I knew that gaming had evolved into a true mainstream phenomenon, with the power to shape modern culture.

“Joining Rovio has been an honour and I am proud to have seen Angry Birds continue to grow, as we released new games, series and films. Less known but equally impressive is our industry-leading proprietary technology platform, Beacon, holding 20 years of expertise, allowing tight-knit teams to develop world-class GaaS products.

“Our mission is to ‘Craft Joy’ and we are thrilled at the idea of using our expertise and tools to bring even more joy to our players, enhancing and expanding Rovio’s and SEGA’s vibrant IPs.

“Red and Sonic the Hedgehog: two globally recognized and iconic characters made by two remarkably complementary companies, with a worldwide reach that spans mobile, PC/console, and beyond. Combining the strengths of Rovio and SEGA presents an incredibly exciting future.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of FY 2023/24 (July-September).

The Wall Street Journal has claimed in a report that Sega is set to acquire Rovio, the developer behind the Angry Birds franchise, in a deal worth up to $1 billion. As per the report, if things should go to plan, the deal is likely to be completed in the coming days.

Interestingly enough, Rovio has also confirmed that it is currently in talks with Sega regarding a potential deal. In a recent statement (vie Reuters), the company said, “As part of its strategic review, Rovio Entertainment Corporation confirms that it is in discussions with Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. Rovio and Sega will release further information at an appropriate time.”

A number of companies in the console space have moved to make similar acquisitions in recent years. EA acquired Playdemic for $1.4 billion in 2021, while Take-Two Interactive completed its $12.7 billion acquisition of Zynga last year. Meanwhile, Microsoft has also said that the mobile market is a major factor in its impending Activision Blizzard.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Clash Royale

Supercell’s Clash Royale could have been a micro-transaction enterprise like Clash of Clans or a Hearthstone rip-off. Instead, it’s proven to be a compelling mix of competitive multiplayer, collectible card battling, strategy and tower defense. The rewards also offer a good balance between free to play and premium, enticing you to keep playing without having to spend any real cash.

Rovio Entertainment chief executive Mikael Hed has recently revealed that the Angry Birds developer will be focusing on several key aspects of its business and sadly, that means reducing the number of employees currently at the studio. This is equal to roughly 16 percent of its total employee base.

“Unfortunately, we also need to consider possible employee reductions of a maximum of 130 people in Finland.

“It is never easy to consider changes like this, but it is better to do them sooner rather than later, when we are in a good place to reignite growth.”

It’s an interesting since Rovio signed on several celebrities to act in its upcoming Angry Birds film in 2016. However, despite the overall success of the company’s franchise, profits have declined substantially – it’s latest financial report indicated a 50 percent decrease in profits.

What are your thoughts on this many employees leaving the studio? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Rovio is teasing a new Angry Birds game for tomorrow on Twitter. That’s the joke (we think).

“We’ll reveal more about the new Angry Birds adventure (including the name!) tomorrow.”

As of now, Angry Birds has been arguably the most successful mobile franchise till date. All of its different versions have been downloaded a collective 2 billion times and are available across every single platform we can think of including next gen consoles. The active monthly user are no joke either and though games like Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans are minting big bucks, they have yet to approach Angry Birds’ level of success.

As for the new game, we’ve already seen a go-karting experience and a Star Wars homage. What could be next? A “free to play” (note the quotes) MMORPG? We’ll find out tomorrow. Till then, let us know your thoughts on what you hope the next game could be.

The astronomical rise of Rovio thanks to its Angry Birds franchise not only served as a pioneer for success on the mobile platform but served as a whole new brand in its own right has caused the company to focus as much on the entertainment side as well as on games. That is according to executive vice president Jami Laes, who claims that of the 800 staff at the studio, less than half are working on games.

Speaking to Games Beat, Laes did emphasize that games are still a core part of the studio. “I think less than half [of staff] are working on games now. But games will always be at the core of Rovio. That’s our heritage. The majority of the folks who have come from different industries to work on different areas of our business, they all experienced the game as their first encounter with the brand. When it comes to future franchises, they’ll most likely see the light of day from the games department, rather than another area of our business.”

As for when we’ll be seeing any new IPs, Rovio has decided to continue focusing on the Angry Birds series. “That’s one of the reasons why Rovio decided, a couple of years ago, to break out of just building the next mobile game, and the one after that. The 52nd game or the 53rd game. Our focus on that one brand resonated so well — taking that to different places and different platforms and different forms of entertainment and different products completely, rather than purely focusing on being a games developer.

“We haven’t broken out anything big because we’ve been building a lot of things in 2013, and in the previous years. We’re building the organisation, building new capabilities, new processes, so that we can have a bigger emphasis on fulfilling that dream of becoming an entertainment powerhouse.

“The bedrock of the company is our focus on building new stuff. In the next couple of years you’ll see new things come out of Rovio. We want to have a balanced diet – birds, pigs, and more. The way we see it, there is no brand, and yet there’s nothing but the brand, in a Zen type of way. Angry Birds is the most important thing for us, but it can’t be the only thing for us.”

Angry Birds will be seeing its own full length feature film in the coming years and any sequels that release are now making their way to next gen consoles along with mobile.

Currently available for Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, Wii, Wii U and 3DS, Angry Birds Star Wars is also now available on the Xbox One. Stay tuned for more details and let us know what you think of yet another Angry Birds port for consoles.

This coming December will see the release of the newest entry in arguably the most popular mobile based platform franchise, Angry Birds. The new game, Angry Birds Go, will be a departure from what we’ve seen in previous Angry Birds Games. This one’s a racing game, and I must say, it looks pretty cool.

Angry Birds Go is a full on 3D kart racer, similar to beloved titles such as Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing, wherein players race along fun and insanely detailed tracks, with the option of driving over certain sections to pick up temporary abilities which can be used to bolster your position in the race, or hinder the positions of others.

And best of all, Angry Birds Go will be free to play on all Android and iOS devices. Oddly enough, even with the December 11th release date, Rovio has already released toys depicting the characters from Angry Birds Go. But the company has also announced a companion countdown app, which will allow users to scan their toys and get a preview of the racers that will be in Angry Birds Go. Pretty cool if you ask me.

A while back, Toki Tori developer Martijn Reuvers was offered to put his characters from Toki Tori into Angry Birds, while put the Angry Birds characters into Toki Tori as a collaborative business deal into the ever-popular mobile franchise, Angry Birds.

When Martijn Reuvers played Angry Birds, he said “When I played the game, I strongly felt that it wasn’t a right fit to put in Toki Tori. And I declined. A couple of months later, the sales suddenly picked up massively. The rest is history.”

Later on, he admitted that it was one of his biggest regrets in his life, “it has been my worst decision ever.” It’s kind of funny how things can turn out for developers, and I personally understand where he is coming from. It’s hard to make a business decision on something that hasn’t been on the market yet.

Let us know what you think of this story in the comments section down below.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and updates.

Source: Reddit.