Angry Birds Maker Rovio Cuts 110 Employees

Rovio Entertainment is following through with its plan to make significant workforce reductions this year. The cuts, which Rovio first announced in early October, will remove 110 employees. As part of the reorganization, the Angry Birds game developer is closing its Tampere, Finland studio and moving many positions to Espoo, Finland.

The cuts come as Rovio is promoting its upcoming Angry Birds movie, which is expected to hit theaters in July. 

Image Credit: Rovio

Initially, Rovio planned to cut 130 employees, which would have amounted to about 16% of its 800-person worldwide workforce. After negotiations with its employees, Rovio has reduced that number to 110 job cuts, though Rovio cautioned that the number is not final, as some positions remain unfilled. 

Rovio took the world by storm five years ago with Angry Birds, an addictive game the company originally developed for mobile devices. Since the first Angry Birds began smashing into pigs, the company has built its game into a major franchise (the company also developed Tiny Thief, an underrated puzzle game).

More recently, Rovio has struggled to maintain the growth it expected, leading to this month’s job reductions. Angry Birds remains very popular, though, so it will be interesting to see if the upcoming movie gives Rovio a second wind.