Ville Heijari from Rovio Mobile shares the success story of Angry Birds

Photo and story: Johanna Peltola
D²-seminar was held in Valkoinen Sali in Helsinki last week. The event was arranged by AVEK, the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture and was divided in two parts, the pitching competition and the seminar. The event brought together the old and new skills in the field and offered food for digital media –driven thought.


Many of the contestants left with 2,500 euros in their pockets as the best ideas were rewarded with a prize. One of the concepts, StarEyes, hit the bull’s eye and was rewarded with another 2,500 euros for the best pitch.
StarEyes is an innovative concept that teaches users the art of playing guitar by combining the real instrument with a video game and is currently being developed in Protomo. Congratulations, guys!

Ville Heijari from Rovio Mobile shared the success story of their massively popular mobile game Angry Birds and was one of the most anticipated guests of the evening. Rovio Mobile started as a three-man game company and has today grown into a firm of 45 employees.

The brand keeps growing as the plush toys and other merchandise have hit the markets around the globe. The story behind the cute and engaging creatures is a unique one and the success story didn’t come easy as Angry Birds is number 53 on the list of games the team has created.

The big-hits-to-be were created several times with determination and then one day it was there: 50 M downloads. 200 M minutes of playtime every single day. What kept these guys going? Love for games. You gotta love that.

AVEK allows subsidized funding for digital media content development twice a year. Check out more information on DigiDemo-funding.

Johanna is a student of our international media programme
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