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Angry Birds Boss Credits Piracy For Popularity Boost

Posted by Soulskill on from the easier-to-do-that-when-you're-successful dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Mikael Hed is the CEO of Rovio Mobile, the company behind popular mobile puzzle game Angry Birds. At the Midem conference Monday, Hed had some interesting things to say about how piracy has affected the gaming industry, and Rovio's games in particular: '"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy." Hed explained that Rovio sees it as "futile" to pursue pirates through the courts, except in cases where it feels the products they are selling are harmful to the Angry Birds brand, or ripping off its fans. When that's not the case, Rovio sees it as a way to attract more fans, even if it is not making money from the products. "Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day." ... "We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have," he said. "If we lose that fanbase, our business is done, but if we can grow that fanbase, our business will grow."'"

9 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. He is right by future+assassin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Photoshop anyone?

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    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  2. Microsoft has been doing it for years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Even though they would probably never admit it, IMHO this is how Windows and MS Office got so popular.
    I do not believe MS would not be able to come with a better way of protecting against illegal copying. It is just that allowing people to copy windows without much effort created a very nice near-monopoly on OS for them.

    1. Re:Microsoft has been doing it for years by GreatBunzinni · · Score: 4, Informative

      They did it involuntarily.

      Not quite. They did it voluntarily, and in a very explicit way. Bill Gates himself has said the following:

      "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though," Gates told an audience at the University of Washington. "And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."

      Even the founder of Microsoft stated that the unauthorized (and free) distribution of Microsoft products is benefitial for a company such as his own. The totalitarian copyright enforcement crap only comes in as useful if a product already attained a reasonable market share, and therefore there is a copyright to enforce. Until there isn't a copyright to enforce, they simply turn a blind eye for convenience and due to business sense.

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      Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
  3. the sw is just small part of the piracy by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Informative

    ..one of the "pirated" products was a fucking theme park.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  4. Re:If Beethoven is alive today ... by sjames · · Score: 5, Informative

    A good story, but not what happened. He described himself as penniless for a while due to the costs of caring for his sick brother (there's something many in the U.S. can relate to) and his lack of output during that time, but he wasn't exactly out on the streets (in fact, he was still able to appear as a nobleman). Several bouts of personal illness and a protracted legal battle didn't help either. However, he left an estate when he died.

  5. Re:Tomorrow's Headline by rylin · · Score: 3, Informative

    Except they already declined a buyout for billions.
    They're not hurting.

  6. Re:That's unpossible! by rb12345 · · Score: 3, Informative

    can I get angry birds for linux?

    http://chrome.angrybirds.com/ seems to work fine.

  7. Order of the Stick by sckeener · · Score: 3, Informative

    People seem to be focused on the piracy aspect of the story and I focused on the 'fan' aspect. Something that is going on with Kickstarter as of this week is Order of the Stick, a free online web comic, that has blown away its goals multiple times in the first week of the kickstarter. That is the power of fans. The product is free on the web, but yet fans are tripping over themselves to get out of print material back in stores.

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    "Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
  8. Re:Or your PR dept. (Rovio is lying) by Luckyo · · Score: 4, Informative

    I find that their POV is rather similar to that of microsoft. "We don't like piracy, but if you're going to pirate, we prefer you pirate our stuff then that of our competitors, because we will still make money on publicity, adaptation numbers and so on".