Rovio may make games about livid fowls, but the studio is cashing large enough checks that it should start developing titles about happy bank accounts any day now.

Rovio Entertainment, which produces Angry Birds and several other mobile games, announced its financial results for 2012 today. The studio reported revenues of nearly $195 million on the strength of its games and consumer products. That’s up 101 percent from $97 million in 2011. Earnings before interest and taxes are up 50 percent from $60.2 million in 2011 to $98.5 million in 2012.

“Year 2012 was another record-breaking year for Rovio,” the developer’s chief financial officer Herkko Soininen said in a statement. “We doubled our revenue with an EBIT margin of 50%, more than doubled our headcount, established new offices, and a new business ventures unit. Also, to protect our own, as well as our partners’ and our fans’ interests, we continue to invest heavily in brand protection globally.”

Throughout its fiscal year, Rovio launched four major mobile games that all topped the mobile-app charts. Angry Birds Space, Amazing Alex, Bad Piggies, and Angry Birds Star Wars produced 1 billion total downloads by May. Sales of these, along with in-app advertising, were two of Rovio’s biggest revenue streams.

The other major area of growth is Rovio’s consumer products line of toys, branded peripherals, and smartphone cases. That sector tripled for the developer and generated nearly 45 percent of its total revenue.

“Rovio has grown from a phenomenon to a very successful global business,” Rovio chief executive officer Mikael Hed said. “In 2010 we set out to build an entertainment company and after last years performance we are on a strong path to achieve our goal.”

Going forward, Rovio has new titles, consumer products, and entertainment releases in the works. The company just announced that it is bringing its social Facebook game Angry Birds Friends to mobile devices in the near future. It is also working on an Angry Birds cartoon.

“We have had a stellar start for this year,” said Hed. “In addition to our successful games portfolio, we recently launched our first Angry Birds Toons series through third-party partners and our own in-game distribution channel. We will continue to strengthen our position in the entertainment business through continuing to innovate on our existing brands, exploring creating new IP as well as exploring opportunities with external parties.”

In addition to the cartoon series, Rovio is also working on an Angry Birds movie that is due in theaters in 2016.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Mobile-game juggernaut Angry Birds has been downloaded more than a billion times, and publisher Rovio isn’t done with it yet. The company launched Angry Birds Star Wars on mobile devices last Friday, and it also debuted a whole line of Hasbro-made toys featuring mash-ups of Angry Birds and Star Wars characters. The double-barreled launch shows that the feathered franchise’s slingshot gameplay can be applied to just about any theme, and Rovio could very well have an endless series on its hands — as long as fans don’t get tired of it.

Rovio launched its fourth Angry Birds title this year as part of its ambition to turn its characters into the next Mickey Mouse. Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer of the Helsinki-based outfit, said in an interview with GamesBeat that Rovio hasn’t hit a wall yet when it comes to growth. In fact, he said the company no longer thinks of itself as just a game maker. Like Disney, Rovio is shooting to become a broad entertainment organization. Here’s a transcript of our edited interview.

GamesBeat: So how long has this been in the making for you?

Peter Vesterbacka: The contract was finalized in March. We work pretty fast. We got the physical products out in record time. When we first talked to Hasbro, they said it was impossible, but then they surprised us and themselves. We got them out sooner and in much bigger volume than we thought. It’s been a great experience from that perspective. It was very fast. We’ve been working on the game about a year.

GamesBeat: What’s unique about the design of this game?

Vesterbacka: We’ve taken the best of Angry Birds with the best of Star Wars and merged it in a very organic way. If you have your Luke bird, it’s like the traditional red bird, but now it has a lightsaber. Or Han Solo meets the yellow bird with lasers. One thing we used, as an example, now the pigs also shoot lasers in some levels. When you then use the lightsaber, you can deflect the lasers. It’s these funny little details from the movies that [make it fun]. In the Star Wars movies, you always see the lasers bouncing left and right and going everywhere. We made sure you can see that in the game. There’s an amazing attention to detail. We worked very closely with Lucas.

GamesBeat: I like the stormtrooper piggies.

Vesterbacka: Yeah! They’re funny. That’s what we loved about the collaboration. It’s peanut butter and jelly. It works. Everything fits. You see a lot of very forced collaborations, but this is just fun.

GamesBeat: Now you have four games a year coming out. Do you think you’re going to maintain that pace?

Vesterbacka: Yeah. It’s a good pace. Next year we’ll probably do four, maybe five.

GamesBeat: Amazing Alex was a new intellectual property that you launched. Are you encouraged by the sales results, or does it suggest you should do more Angry Birds-all-the-time stuff?

Vesterbacka: I’d say it’s a bit of both. On one side, we’re very happy with the numbers for Alex. If you look at it as a new franchise, totally new everything, from that perspective it’s very good. But if you compare it to when we do a new Angry Birds game, those numbers are … a bit bigger.

Still, we always have to think about when we launched Angry Birds. We have flyers saying something like, “Angry Birds: 500,000 downloads!” Now it’s like, “Really? How could we have thought that was anything?” But, at the time, it was a big deal. When I first talked about how we were going to get 100 million downloads, everyone at the company thought I was crazy. Outside the company too. One-hundred million? Only Tetris had done that. Now it’s like a footnote.

Look at our Bad Piggies launch. We launched on the 27th [of September]. It’s been number one until now, when we bumped it down with Angry Birds Star Wars. The amazing launch is part of the Angry Birds universe — it piggybacks on that — but it’s off to a much faster start than Angry Birds. That’s also true for Amazing Alex. We have more downloads than we did for the original Angry Birds at this point. So everything is relative.

With Alex, we don’t have 100 million downloads yet, but we need to keep our history in mind. We made 51 games before Angry Birds. Not all of them were Angry Birds. On the one hand, we’re happy, but on the other hand, we’re always hungry for more. We need to keep that hunger.

We’ll continue doing more Angry Birds, more Bad Piggies, more Amazing Alex, more other things. If you look at Rovio, you could say Angry Birds is our Coke, but we’ll keep doing Sprite and Fanta. Angry Birds is our main brand, but it’s OK to do smaller things. Smaller for us can still be tens of millions.

GamesBeat: So what’s different about how Rovio can launch new titles?

Vesterbacka: We’re learning new things every day. At the same time, we’ve grown a bit. We’re now 500 people. With more people, that always introduces new challenges. But we’re happy with how fast we can move. If you look at last year, we launched one game, Angry Birds Rio. This year, we launched Angry Birds Space, Amazing Alex, Bad Piggies, and Angry Birds Star Wars. We had four big launches, and that’s just the games side. We’ve done tons on the animation side. Merchandising is seeing explosive growth. Everything is growing constantly.

GamesBeat: How do you keep this going? Media people are starting to like the angle of, “Well, this fad has to die out soon.”

Vesterbacka: Well, look at Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse has been around since 1928, and he seems to be still alive and kicking. Hello Kitty, since 1974. Mario, quite a while. Star Wars, 1977, still going strong. There’s always people who speculate about when we’ll do this or that thing. We’re not worried about it. It’s our job to keep it fresh. We’re working closely with Sanrio in Japan, the Hello Kitty guys, and now of course with Lucas. You could also have looked at Star Wars as a fad and argued it wasn’t going anywhere….

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Bad Piggies offers a generous mix of physics-based gameplay and vehicle creation. The game (out now for iOS, Android, Mac, with PC and Windows Phone coming soon) gives players an assortment of parts and expects them to get across each level’s finish line to earn a star and move to the next challenge. Ambitious gamers can earn two additional stars (three in total) by either collecting them within levels or by completing specific tasks (like not using a certain part or finishing within an allotted time). Parts include varied items such as wooden boxes, engines, and balloons and wings for flight.

WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

Harder … and more rewarding

Gameplay may sound simple enough, and the touch controls and basic mechanics make getting around in the game easy, but the difficulty curve is light-years away from what mobile gamers familiar with Angry Birds are used to. Spending a half-hour on a single level is more common than you might expect. That’s not to say that Bad Piggies is too difficult; just know that if you buy this game thinking that it’s another Angry Birds, then you’re greatly mistaken.

Once players get over how incredibly challenging Bad Piggies can be, which can take some time, it becomes fun and rewarding. The difference between the two games is simple: Angry Birds has simple puzzles whereas Bad Piggies has complex ones which require you to continue playing even after the vehicle’s been made. Players have complete control over their creations; they don’t just toss a bird and forget or launch one more with the right timing. You must control every aspect of the game.

Success requires proper timing and smart vehicle creation, and that makes the overall experience much more similar to traditional console games.

Lots of levels that save properly

Like all Rovio titles, Bad Piggies starts out with a ton of levels to play through: 72 standard levels, 18 collectible bonus levels that must be unlocked, and five sandbox levels. Each level takes at least a minute or two to complete, up to 30-45 minutes for more challenging maps. It can take days, or even weeks, to complete and collect everything. And, like with all Rovio games, the developer will add more levels for free in the future.

The five Sandbox levels may be the most fun Bad Piggies has to offer. They are massive maps with nothing but 20 stars to collect, and they provide all of the vehicle parts that players have earned from completing the “campaign” levels. By giving you the potential to build thousands of vehicles, these levels give players the creative freedom to assemble contraptions such as motorcycle air balloons and air-glider, coke-bottle-driven cars.

A smart checkpoint system keeps it all together by saving every vehicle you build. It may sound trivial, but starting from scratch because of a crash or because the app was shut down would be a terrifying prospect.

WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE

If you’re stuck, cheat, pay, or give up

Rovio is no stranger to microtransactions, but Bad Piggies’ occasionally extreme difficulty may already be a big enough turnoff. Because levels can’t be skipped, if players get stuck, there are only three options: cheat (look up how to beat the level), pay at least $2 for a “mechanic” to build the simplest vehicle to reach the finish line, or, of course, give up.

With a quick nod on Facebook, players get three free mechanics, and in reality, the pricing isn’t so terrible. The inability to skip levels, however, is.

Not for everyone

The overall difficulty isn’t gruesome, but for mobile players who want or expect a casual game, Bad Piggies will seem like a stretch. It certainly works for waiting in the doctor’s office or in line for ice cream, but that only goes so far. If you’re impatient, need immediate victory, didn’t grow up with games, or are just so used to today’s constant barrage of political correctness and the need to always win, then Bad Biggies is not the game for you.

Conclusion

Bad Piggies may seem like a hardcore game from a casual gaming company, but the formula Rovio has implemented is very similar to Angry Birds. The only difference is the scale: A bigger challenge reaps greater rewards. That difficulty spreads too far with no option to skip levels, but a smart save system keeps it great for mobile users. The depth of puzzles and creative building aspect will keep players hungrily coming back for more.

Score: 85/100

Bad Piggies was released for iOS (iPhone 3GS and up, iPad and up), Android (2.2 and up), the Mac App Store, and for PC on September 27, 2012. The game was tested on an iPhone 4S, and features identical gameplay and levels across all platforms. It retails for $0.99 for the iPhone, $2.99 for the iPad, $4.95 for the PC, and $4.99 for Mac. Bad Piggies is free on Android.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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So much for the sophomore slump. Amazing Alex, the follow-up to publisher Rovio’s megahit Angry Birds, is already nesting in the top spot of Apple’s app store charts just one day after its release Thursday.

The 99-cent iPhone version of this puzzle game is the best-selling app in 35 countries, while the $2.99 iPad version is tops in 50 countries, according to All Things D.

The title is also available for Android devices via the Google Play store, where Amazing Alex is currently the 11th best-selling app.

Observers of the mobile-gaming scene were wondering if Amazing Alex could match the unparalleled success of Angry Birds, which has received over a billion downloads to date. Rovio’s new game will have to top charts for a lot longer if it hopes to match those kinds of sales, but the mobile puzzler is off to a good start.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best games stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, web comic Penny Arcade launched a Kickstarter to go completely ad-free, the Android-based Ouya console caused quite a stir, and Angry Birds is coming to home consoles at a higher price than the current mobile versions.

We also sport a review for NCAA Football 13 and a preview for the upcoming Tomb Raider game.

Oh, and we had this little conference: GamesBeat 2012.

GamesBeat:

The DeanBeat: 10 takeaways about game investments from GamesBeat 2012

Warner Bros. making web video series on Hawken

NCAA Football 13 is a fun experience that’s still too raw to turn pro (review)

Official trailer for the live-action film series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

The Art of Blizzard collects 20+ years of skulls, mushroom clouds, and giant wyrms (exclusive images)

BioWare brings back Britannia with Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar

Nintendo sells more than 5 million 3DS consoles in the U.S.

Minecraft on Xbox 360 update: new character skins, new tools, and safer TNT

GamesBeat 2012 roundup: The Crossover Era, Ouya, the iPad as this generation’s console

Epic: Fortnite is the first Unreal Engine 4 game (and a PC exclusive)

Tomb Raider reboot: Are you playing or watching Lara Croft? (preview)

If your kids like Pokémon, they’ll go nuts for Nukotoys (with video)

Mass Effect 3: Earth downloadable content targets more warzones, recruits new soldiers, and boosts difficulty

Ouya gaming console smashes Kickstarter record in one day

Mobile industry bigwigs Tapjoy and Kontagent form partnership (exclusive)

Source Filmmaker now available for free in open beta

CBS Films details Deus Ex: Human Revolution adaptation

Penny Arcade starts a Kickstarter to go ad-free

Nintendo will finally be able to rescue data from stolen systems…if you have a police report

Cloud gaming finally coming to South Korea (exclusive)

10 Internet comments about games that actually make us laugh

5th Planet taps into your inner Gambit in Legacy of Heroes (exclusive)

New gaming crowdfunding site Gamesplanet Lab vets projects for quality

Halo 4 dev: “Loadout system looks more like Gradius” than Call of Duty, no public beta

Beatles legend Paul McCartney is working on music for former Halo dev Bungie

GamesBeat 2012

The panoramic view of GamesBeat 2012

GamesBeat in pictures

Mobile VP for Activision reveals motivation behind Flurry partnership

Electronic Arts envisions a future free of platform shackles

Design panel divulges how mobile apps try to hack your brain

The People’s Box: Ouya launches Kickstarter for sub-$100 console

The road ahead in gaming: Welcome to the Crossover Era

Seamus Blackley marries “geriatric” and young game designers to build arcade mobile games

Even Will Wright’s PowerPoint slides are fascinating

Raptr and Kiip mine game rewards for new business models

Social gaming startup Akamon claims top prize in our ‘Who’s Got Game’ competition

Design guru Yves Béhar dishes on the Ouya console (video interview)

Rising costs of marketing iPhone games scares developers

Ouya designer Yves Béhar’s dream: Reboot the console world (exclusive)

Kickstarter gives game developers control over their destinies

Electronic Arts envisions a future free of platform shackles

Mobile industry bigwigs Tapjoy and Kontagent form partnership (exclusive)

Ouya founder: ‘We never anticipated that it would blow up like this.’ (exclusive interview)

Indie devs: Quality content trumps following trends, free-to-play ‘is kind of a slum’

Legendary game exec Bing Gordon on epic poems, the golden age of gaming, and Xbox as a platform

Game pioneer Will Wright wants to make games ‘as personal as our dreams’

Gaming investors say the iPad will be this generation’s console

Zynga’s Mark Pincus says focus more on content, less on investing in platforms

Dean Takahashi’s opening comments for GamesBeat 2012

VentureBeat:

Angry Birds creator’s new game, Amazing Alex, is out now

Angry Birds console versions cost at least 10x the mobile equivalents

Mobile VP for Activision reveals motivation behind Flurry partnership

Electronic Arts envisions a future free of platform shackles

Xbox boss: Halo 4 will work with Surface tablet

Design panel divulges how mobile apps try to hack your brain

The People’s Box: Ouya launches Kickstarter for sub-$100 console

Indie game developers weigh in on Valve’s Steam Greenlight

Portalarium raises $7M for Facebook and mobile role-playing games (exclusive)

Zynga’s 1.8 trillion minutes and other cool facts about the game industry

Betable’s potential jackpot: Bringing real gambling to social casino games

June retail video game sales expected to be a dud

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Amazing Alex, a new physics-based puzzle game for Android and iOS devices, is out now. It’s the newest game from Rovio, the company that received over a billion downloads thanks to the megahit Angry Birds.

This is the first major release from Rovio since their release of the Angry Birds games, and many gamers (and analysts of mobile gaming) wonder if the company can net a similar amount of attention — and profit — from this new title.

Rovio unveiled Amazing Alex this past Tuesday at our GamesBeat 2012 conference. The new title has players using everyday objects to create Rube Goldberg-style machines to solve a series of challenges. Players can also create and share their own levels.

The iPhone and Android versions costs 99 cents, while the iPad app goes for $2.99.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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This is a big deal, since Angry Birds has garnered more than a billion downloads to date.

Peter Vesterbacka (pictured left), the chief marketing officer and Mighty Eagle at Helsinki, Finland-based Rovio, said in a fireside chat that Amazing Alex is a new intellectual property that the company acquired and has given the “Rovio treatment.” That means it has been refined, put through a quality ringer, and uses the same kind of physics-based puzzle gameplay that’s made Angry Birds such a hit.

“We are going to throw our marketing machine at it as well,” Vesterbacka said. That means the company will cross-promote the game using its Angry Birds distribution infrastructure.

“The main distribution is through our games,” he said. “We built the biggest distribution network in the universe, with 1 billion downloads” of Angry Birds. He added, “We want to get the game the audience it deserves.”

The new game originally launched as Casey’s Contraptions. Rovio bought the rights to it and is releasing it under a new title.

Amazing Alex is one of many new business efforts under way at Rovio. Vesterbacka said Rovio is launching a Saturday morning animated series in the fall. He also said the company is moving forward with books, merchandising (now 30 percent of Rovio’s business), and other efforts to keep growth coming.

Above all, he said Rovio remains focused on high-quality games and serving the company’s fans. He noted that Rovio worked on 51 games before it succeeded with Angry Birds.

“You can’t make a crap experience better by throwing better analytics at it,” Vesterbacka said. “It has to be a great experience to start with.”

See the trailer below: