Angry Birds Creator Rovio Acquires Kombo Animation Studio

Mobile entertainment company and Angry Birds developer Rovio has acquired collaborative Finnish animation studio Kombo, the company announced Wednesday. Located in Helsinki, Kombo has worked with Rovio in the past on promotional work for Angry Birds, including two memorable animated trailers (pictured). The studio has also done work for Universal Music Group, MTV and Nokia products, though Rovio says that all future efforts will be focused entirely on its products. "This acquisition is an important step in the execution of our media strategy," said Rovio CEO Mikael Hed. "The attitude, creativity and quality of Kombo’s work is simply fantastic, and we look forward to delighting our fans with more Kombo animations." "We are very excited to be a part of Rovio. Now we have the possibility to create bigger productions to a very wide and global audience," says Ilmari Hakkola, president of Kombo. Rovio's Angry Birds has been downloaded over 200 million times across various platforms. The company recently secured $42 million in funding to expand its business into a larger entertainment company, and says it is "on the lookout for more talent in both animated entertainment and application development."