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Downloads for Rovio’s Angry Birds Stella spin-off series have now hit 30m, the Finnish games giant has said.
The release of Angry Birds: Stella Pop last month has helped it past the milestone, thanks to five million downloads of its own. The company will also soon launch an update to the full Angry Birds: Stella game entitled Lily Lagoon, which will add an additional 20 levels.
The Stella series is regarded as Rovio’s attempt to target the female gamer market, although the company has insisted that it very much hopes the game’s pink lead and female cast can still appeal to a male audience.
Like all Angry Birds games, Angry Birds: Stella Pop appeals to a wide demographic of gamers, but we are delighted to see it has a strong following of female millennials globally and is resonating especially in the US,” Rovio’s head of studio Heini Kaihu said.
Gaming industry studies are revealing trends that defeat the long-held presumption that mobile games are primarily a male pastime. We’ve always known this is not quite true at Rovio, where we have a very inclusive culture and many female developers.
We will continue to champion female characters in our games.”
Rovio’s fortunes have declined in recent times, due in part to the rise of rival mobile gaming giants such as King’s Candy Crush series, Supercell’s Clash of Clans and, more recently, Machine Zone’s Game of War. The latter rose to prominence after its high-profile Super Bowl ad in the US and an ongoing aggressive social media advertising push.
