Angry Birds’ Rovio Raising $42 Million From Accel And Skype Founders

Big news today from Rovio, the Finland-based developers behind the hugely successful Angry Birds mobile game: the company has picked up $42 million in funding, a first round round led by no less than Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures, the VC firm founded and led by Skype/Kazaa/Joost founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.

The funding is some of the biggest we’ve seen for a mobile content or mobile gaming company, and it underscores how one good bit of content can help a company hit the jackpot.

With the funding, Zennstrom will join the board of Rovio, according to the release. Other investors in this round of funding include Felicis Ventures.

Angry Birds has been downloaded more than 75 million times, and claims to have 40 million active users per month. It’s one of the most popular apps in the iTunes store. Rovio is aiming for 100 million users by next year, according to Reuters.

The funding will be used to further expand Angry Birds to more platforms, not just on mobile but also social media and beyond. Some of it will also, presumably, be used in the development of further products in the hopes of another big success.

The company is estimated, according to a profile in Wired, to have made €50 million ($69 million) from apps sales, advertising and licensing of Angry Birds to date. That’s helped not just by downloads of the app, but from transactions when the game is in progress: Rovio says that 40 percent of new customers on the iOS platform purchase downloadable content (that is, virtual goods).

But some of that revenue, pointedly, is not from mobile directly: the company has sold two million Angry Birds plush toys, for example. That could give Mickey Mouse a run for his money.

Creator Of Angry Birds’ Physics Engine Calling Out Rovio For Not Giving Him Credit

Aaaawkwaaard!

I’m not at this week’s Game Developer Conference in San Francisco for various reasons (the main one being that I’ve been covering events non-stop for nearly two months and my body is falling apart), but we’re keeping a pretty close eye on things just in case. We’re hearing that things just got a little dramatic in the “ANGRY BIRDS – An Entertainment Franchise in the Making” panel headed by Rovio’s “Might Eagle” (read: head honcho) Peter Vesterbacka.

During the Q&A session, someone from the audience stood up and claimed to have created the physics engine behind Angry Birds, requesting a credit. The audience, we’re told, roared with applause. I’m working to confirm this right now, but I’m almost certain that person would have to be Erin Catto, creator of the open-source Box 2D physics engine. (Update: Yep, folks in the audience have confirmed that it was Erin Catto.)

This issue started heating up back in December, after a handful of people in the development community (here’s one) started wondering aloud if Erin should get some financial love from Rovio — or, at the very least, a mention in the credits.

Technically, Rovio isn’t at all obligated to compensate Erin, be it with monies, fine jewels, or a passing mention. From Box2D’s license:

The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

Rovio’s lovable characters, near-constant updates, and generally awesome employees have given the company a pretty dang positive public image. They wouldn’t want a dispute with the guy who built a core element of their game (especially when the guy is giving said element away for free) to tarnish that; in this situation, they become David’s Goliath, and that’s a terrible spot to be in. If all the guy is asking for is some credit, giving him that as quick as possible is probably the best thing they could do.

The gist of Rovio’s response was pretty straight-forward: if he’d come see them after the panel, they could talk about it.

Angry Birds Now Coming To Windows Phone 7 On April 6th

If your Windows Phone 7 handset was one of the unfortunate few that got bricked by Microsoft’s little-update-that-couldn’t, you’re going to want to get that fixed quick. At the very latest, you’re going to want to have things all patched up by April 6th. Why? Because it’s Angry Birds Time!

Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka confirmed last week at Mobile World Congress that the Birds were comin’ to Windows Phone 7, but he couldn’t get too specific about the launch date. Microsoft went ahead and filled in the gaps, with this post on the Windows Team Blog promising that Angry Birds and 5 other big-name titles (Doodle Jump, Plants Vs Zombies, geoDefense, Sonic The Hedgehog Ep: 1, and Hydro Thunder Go) will be hitting on April 6th.

For those new to Angry Birds, just remember: Take a break every 15-30 minutes to stretch your legs, rehydrate, and rest your eyes. If you start to feel cold when you’re not playing Angry Birds, it’s important to get help.

Minecraft for iOS confirmed, the hunt resuming for free time to squander

You know all of that time you've been wasting on Angry Birds HD? Looks like your flying friends may have company when it comes time to, um... kill time, as Markus Persson has confirmed to Gamasutra that an iOS port is "in the works." That means that an official Minecraft build will soon pop up in Apple's App Store, with iPhone and iPad versions hinted at. Aron Neiminen, a new recruit to the Mojang team, is responsible for the port, and if all goes well, it'll be let loose later in the year. Persson also confirmed that the iOS version won't receive every update that the original browser / download versions get, but that it'll be "granted features that make sense for the touchscreen platform." Raise your hand below if you're giddy beyond control.

Wahhhh !This Angry Birds Cake Is Playable. It’s also ABSOLUTELY AMAZING

The Internet loves cake. The Internet loves crazy home-made things. The Internet loves Angry Birds.

This, friends, is the Internet Love Trifecta.