rovio-stockholm
Latest
Rovio picks up another Battlefield alum
Trading gritty, realistic murder for the more cartoony, family friend kind, DICE senior producer Patrick Liu has left the Battlefield developer in favor of the greener, pig-filled grasses at Angry Birds megalith Rovio. Liu will be filling the role of Creative Director at Rovio's Stockholm studio.The announcement was made early this morning by Rovio Stockholm general manager Oskar Burman, who himself is also a Battlefield alumni, albeit a slightly different one.During his five-year tenure at DICE, Liu filled various producer roles on Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield 1943, Medal of Honor and Battlefield 3. His work history also includes serving as Associate Producer on The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena before joining DICE.
Rovio kicks off Gamescom with a new studio in Stockholm and an ex-Battlefield GM
Rovio's bird-based empire continues to expand, with this morning's Twitter feed outing ex-Battlefield Play4Free head Oskar Burman as the new general manager of Rovio's Stockholm-based studio. "Super excited to let you know I'm the new GM of Rovio Stockholm, opening up shop today," Burman announced. He left EA's "Easy Company" studio just last month, having served as the GM at Easy ahead of that.Burman's certainly excited about the move, saying, "IMHO Rovio is one of the most exciting devs in the world, perfectly positioned for the future, [with] focus on digital, mobile, and thinking big." He added, "Have to admit I was also growing tired of creating violent games. From now on I'll only inflict violence on cartoon pigs."Rovio says it's "delighted to welcome Oskar to the flock," and that he'll be working on "bringing Sweden's best talent together to work for the world's fastest growing and most innovative entertainment company." The Stockholm studio is "focused on supporting Rovio in both current and upcoming game projects," but no other info is given about what specifically the studio is working on.
Rovio expanding into Sweden; next, the world
Angry Birds originator and eventual ruler of all mankind Rovio is widening its grasp upon the world by opening a new studio in Stockholm, Sweden. Should all go according to plan, the presently unnamed new studio will be staffed by 20 to 30 folks within a year.This announcement follows Rovio's recent acquisition of Futuremark Games Studio (Unstoppable Gorg, Shattered Horizon), as well as its highly successful launch of Angry Birds Space. "2012 is going to be a big year in gaming for us, and we're constantly on the lookout for great new talent," said Rovio's executive VP of games Petri Järvilehto in a statement to CVG. "We're excited to expand to Stockholm and work in one of Europe's gaming and innovation hotspots."From what we're able to tell from the pictures on Wikipedia, Stockholm looks like a beautiful place, but we can understand that not everyone interested in working for Rovio will immediately fall for the city's Scandinavian charm. Don't worry though, future Rovio Stockholm employees. You'll learn to love it.
