Rovio Entertainment, formerly known as Relude Oyj and Rovio mobile is a Finnish video game development studio best known for the Angry Birds series. From 2012 to 2020, Rovio developed two Star Wars crossovers for the Angry Birds franchise, Angry Birds Star Wars, and its sequel, Angry Birds Star Wars II.
Rovio also produced several Star Wars-themed animated shorts promoting the games. Rovio was founded on November 10, 2003 in Helsinki, Finland. Including the Star Wars Angry Birds games, Rovio has produced 65 games since its creation. Rovio Entertainment is currently led by Alexandre Pelletier-Normand.
Rovio Entertainment was founded by Niklas Hed, Jarno Väkeväinen and Kim Dikert in Helsinki, Finland on November 10, 2003 as Relude. In 2005, Relude received funding through an inversion and changed its name to Rovio. In December of 2009, Relude, now Rovio mobile, released Angry Birds, Rovio's 52nd game. The game involved using a slingshot to launch birds into structures protecting at least one pig.
Angry Birds Star Wars, a crossover between the Angry Birds and Star Wars saga
In 2011, Rovio received financial success with Angry Birds and changed its name to Rovio Entertainment Ltd. On October 8, 2012, Rovio announced Angry Birds Star Wars, a collaboration with LucasArts crossover game with the Star Wars franchise featuring characters, worlds and levels inspired by the original trilogy films. They also announced merchandise consisting of Halloween costumes, plush toys and action figures, which would be available on October 28. The company's members marked the announcement day as a "banner day" for them, believing that the new Angry Birds Star Wars products and animated trailers would be liked by fans. In the announcement, they also shared that they collaborated with LucasArts in development
Angry Birds Star Wars was released on November 8, 2012, initially on iPhone, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, Personal computer, Windows Phone, and Nintendo 3DS and BlackBerry 10.
Angry Birds Star Wars II, a crossover with content and characters from Lucasfilm's most recent works, such as the prequels and Star Wars Rebels.
Following the game's success, Rovio announced in July 15, 2013 their next game, Angry Birds Star Wars II, stating that as the prequel had been a blockbuster, they were thrilled to introduce the new "exciting" chapter in the Angry Birds Star Wars Saga, as well as introducing "Telepods," a way to "expand" the players' experience by buying real-life birds and pigs, and using the telepods to obtain them in the game. On September 18, 2013, Angry Birds Star Wars II released, which featured content and characters from the animated TV show Star Wars Rebelss first season, and content from the prequel trilogy. The game released on iPhone, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, Personal computer, and Windows Phone 8. The first game later released on October 29, 2013 on Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U, as well as the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS, as well as on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which Rovio expected to release in November.
The Angry Birds Star Wars Saga also contained various books. In February 1, 2013, Angry Birds Star Wars Sticker & Poster Activity Annual 2013 was released. It was followed by Ultimate Sticker Collection: Angry Birds Star Wars, which released on February 18, and the March 1 Angry Birds Star Wars: Yoda Bird's Heroes. Angry Birds Star Wars: Lard Vader's Villains was published on March 1 of the same year. In 2014, Angry Birds Star Wars Character Encyclopedia was released on January 6 and Ultimate Factivity Collection: Angry Birds Star Wars was published on December 15.
Rovio later removed some of its games from the Google Play and the Apple Store, including both Angry Birds Star Wars games in March 2020, however, Rovio continued to support the game until the end of that year.