In a news twist that no one seen coming, the creators of Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment, have announced that they have bought out Futuremark game Studios, the makers of the 3D Mark benchmarking suite and the recent Unstoppable Gorg game.
Core gamers may know Futuremark for their zero-gravity, first-person PC shooter that helped usher in the DX10 era, Shattered Horizon.
The company is always on the cusp of cutting edge software technology and it's a bit shocking that a casual entertainment company like Rovio would even be interested in a studio like Futuremark. Nevertheless, Mikael Hed, Rovio Entertainment’s CEO had some positive things to say about the acquisition, commenting in the press release that...
“They are an incredibly talented and experienced team, and we are thrilled to have them on board,” ... “Rovio’s success is founded on the excellence of our team, and Futuremark Games Studio is going to be a superb addition.”
Rovio recently seen additional shared success from the Angry Birds Space rendition, which has garnered more than 10 million downloads after being on the market for such a short period of time. This is on top of the millions they've already made from the vanilla Angry Birds games. So, financially, the company is definitely in a position to start the acquisition game, rivaling the likes of Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Activision.
Jukka Mäkinen, Futuremark CEO was also excited about the transition, saying...
"I am proud to see the potential of our talented games team recognized by Rovio,". "Futuremark will now focus on supporting gamers and industry with 3DMark, our professional grade benchmark which, in a new version to be released later this year, will allow unified gaming performance comparison across operating systems and form factors for the first time."
Jukka also went on to further explain that Futuremark will retain the rights to their IPs and that their games Shattered Horizon, Unstoppable Gorg and Hungribles will remain with them. Benchmarking will also still stay in the picture, as the Futuremark CEO detailed the company's future ambitions...
"Here at Futuremark, we will renew our focus on creating great benchmarks and performance measurement software for gamers, home users, small businesses and the IT industry. This year will see a new version of 3DMark that, for the first time, will allow a direct comparison of gaming performance across operating systems and form factors, as well as a new version of PCMark for Windows 8."I would like to thank everyone who played one of our games and those of you in the press who helped bring our games to a wider audience. I am proud of the games we released and delighted that the potential of our talented games team has been recognised by our friends at Rovio. I am sure they will go on to make great games together."
It will definitely be interesting to see what comes out of this partnership. Rovio at least seems to have a grasp on what makes the industry tick, as Hed mentioned before that they don't worry themselves with piracy given that it's an outlet to earn potential fans, and not something they spend time fighting or trying to prevent.
Given that Futuremark focuses mostly on PC-oriented software, we'll see how well Rovio's publishing mettle is further tested with their upcoming releases, and whether they will stay the course or veer into DRM territory like Ubisoft and other companies.
You can learn more about the acquisition over at the Official Rovio Website.
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