Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds, could be causing problems for its new owner Sega, after it warned revenues and underlying operating profits would remain at the same level as the previous year.
Completing the purchase of the Finnish app producer back in August for around US$775 million, the Sonic the Hedgehog creator is now expecting Rovio to produce sales lower than €317 million and adjusted EBITDA of around €53 million.
Revenues at the gaming group for the nine months to September slipped by almost 8% to €222 million, leaving just three months for Rovio to produce just under €100 million in sales.
Underlying earnings also slipped during the first nine months, from €37 million in 2022 to €32 million this year.
Difficulties in driving growth were largely led by weaker sales from Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds Journey as well as a retraction of 0.7% in the overall size of the mobile gaming market.
Despite this, the group is cooperating positively with its new owner, speedily delivering synergies, while also exploring new game launches under its newly appointed studio head Johannes Mang.
Alex Pelletier-Normand, chief executive officer of Rovio, said in a statement: “We have high ambitions in terms of developing our top live games further and launching new ones.
“Regarding our new titles, we are working on improving the monetization of Moomin: Puzzle & Design and are planning the global launch window for the first quarter of 2024.”
Rovio confirmed following Sega’s acquisition it would no longer be reporting third or first-quarter financial updates.