Sega's acquisition of Angry Birds maker Rovio helps boost profits by 181.5%

Sega's acquisition of Angry Birds maker Rovio has helped boost the company's video game profits by 181.5 percent year-on-year.

According to its latest financial report, Sega's net sales for video games increased by 34 percent, leading to a huge rise in profits.

It attributes this increase in part to the inclusion of Rovio, along with the release of Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance in the most recent quarter.

Sega acquired Rovio last year for £625m, which was completed by last August. A year-on-year comparison for this quarter, then, is favourable.

Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance released on 14th June across PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One, following its initial release on Switch in 2021. It sold 500,000 copies in its first three days of release worldwide.

Other successes include sales of older releases ("repeat titles" as Sega calls them) like Unicorn Overlord (which released earlier this year) and the remaster of Persona 5 Royal.

In addition, revenue from the Sonic movie and animation were strong.

The remainder of the year looks to be positive for Sega too, with the release of Atlus's next RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio on 11th October, Sonic x Shadow Generations on 25th October, and Football Manager 25 (currently without an exact release date).

The Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film will also be released later this year on 20th December, which will likely result in a further revenue boost.

I went hands-on with Sonic x Shadow Generations earlier this year and revelled in its big dash of nostalgia.