Angry Birds Maker to seek IPO—how about a new game, Rovio?

> The company behind the Angry Birds mobile phone game sensation has said it wants to list on the stock market. > > Rovio said in the statement: “The plan is to seek an initial public offering (IPO) in New York, but the specific timing and details are still open.” > > The Finnish firm has recently raised $42m to fund expansion from backers that include the founder of Skype and Accel, an early investor in Facebook. Talk about milking your fifteen minutes for all it’s worth.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Angry Birds as much as anyone else, and I think they are completely deserving of all their success. But I’m waiting for their NEXT great game. I couldn’t care less about Angry Birds: the Movie. Angry Birds: the Lunchbox. Angry Birds: the Cartoon series. Angry Birds: the Birthday Cake.

I still think they wouldn’t need to raise money via an IPO and via lame marketing tie-ins if they had just charged $2 or $3 for their iPhone app instead of $.99. As a game creator, I give them full props. As astute business people, not so much.

You want to be the next Nintendo, Rovio, you’re going to have to come up with more than one hit. Otherwise, the next Angry Birds-level success will come from another startup.