Massive Cuts and Layoffs at Rovio After Angry Birds 2 Launch

Despite the successful launch of Angry Birds 2, up to 260 employees are expected to be laid off as Rovio struggles to recover from its financial woes of 2014.

Polygon reports that Rovio is giving the axe to a large chunk of its workforce in order to stabilize its business as the company continues to feel the effects of last year. 2014 was one of the worst years in the company's history, dropping 73 percent in profit. While Angry Birds 2 had over 50 million downloads since launching last month, it wasn't enough revenue to pull Rovio out of its current hole. As a result, the company is restructuring.

Last October, Rovio laid off around 110 employees, which equated to roughly 16 percent of its workforce at that time. Giving the axe to 260 employees equates to almost 40 percent of its current roster.

While finally doing an official sequel and a big Hollywood movie are nice, this is what happens when you put all of your angry eggs in one basket and try to milk the hell out of a franchise for as much as you can since debuting six years ago. After doing dozens of spin-offs and finally releasing an official sequel, the Angry Birds franchise grew from a smartphone game to a multi-million dollar franchise. Unfortunately, overuse of the brand name and numerous spin-offs started to water-down the franchise, making us feel quite numb towards the Angry Birds name.

Despite all of its financial woes, Rovio is working with Sony Pictures to launch The Angry Birds Movie in May 2016.

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