Rovio Celebrates 263 Million Active Users at End of 2012
Rovio reached a milestone of 263 million active users at the end of 2012.
Thanks to 30 million new downloads during Christmas week and 8 million downloads on Christmas day the company was able to achieve a significant increase in its average 200 million monthly active users in December 2011.
Rovio now has close to the amount of monthly active users as Zynga which reported 311 million monthly active users in the third quarter of last year. The company also has 264 million monthly active users on Facebook, according to tracking site AppData.
Rovio gained its notoriety when it launched its 52nd attempt at a game on the iOS platform. Since that time, the company has set extremely high goals for itself as the company's chief marketing officer Peter Vesterbacka stated that he wanted Rovio to be the first entertainment company with 1 billion users a day.
The company uses different methods aside from just the sale its popular games such as Angry Birds to generate revenue. Rovio sells merchandise, releases animated shorts, feature length films, and will even attempt to open hundreds of activity and amusement parks in China and throughout the world.
China is currently Rovio's biggest market by daily active users. One of the company's main goals is to have half or more of its revenue come from real-world goods instead if virtual ones such as games and smartphone themes.
Rovio released some successful titles this year including Angry Birds Star Wars which combines the Star Wars Universe with the hit game.
Angry Birds Star Wars plays just like regular Angry Birds games, but features themes from the wildly successful film franchise.
The Star Wars based game was a large reason for the high increase in Rovio downloads over the 2012 Christmas season.