"Angry Birds" developer Rovio will lay off workers

"Angry Birds" developer Rovio announced that the company will lay off 110 people, accounting for 14% of the total number of employees.

Rovio also announced that it would close the gaming studios in Tampere (Tampere), a city in southwestern Finland, as part of its operations integration plan.

Rovio, who started out as a mobile game, has now expanded into a variety of entertainment and licensing businesses. The company's 2013 revenue growth stalled because of the poor performance of the new series, Angry Birds.

Rovio announced in October this year that a maximum of 130 jobs could be laid off because the company has begun restructuring its business in a sluggish business growth situation. After the layoff of 110 people, the October layoff plan will be completely completed.

The number of Rovio staff has increased rapidly, to 500 in 2012, and to 800 in 2013. At the time, the dominant business model of the mobile gaming industry was moving away from paid games (such as the original "Angry Birds") to free value-added games (such as the Legend of Candy Smash).

Rovio CEO Mikar Hede (Mikael Hed) said in October this year that Rovio will be restructured around "gaming, media and consumer products", saying that these three businesses have the most room for growth.

In August this year, Rovio appointed Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Peckar Lantara (Pekka Rantala) as CEO and will take office on January 1, 2015. And incumbent CEO Hurd will be chairman of Rovio's film department Rovio Animation UBM.