By This isn’t entirely related to Android, but kind of is. Chillingo – publishers of some of the most popular apps on iOS, such as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope – are reportedly being bought by EA for $20 million. Earlier reports errantly stated that they were the developers behind Angry Birds and owned the Angry Birds IP, but this isn’t the case. (In fact, Chillingo had nothing to do with Angry Birds coming to Android.)
Today’s news holds a lot of implications for Android, though. We know EA’s looking to get deeper into the Android market with new games coming out for their top franchises (with big-name offerings like Need For Speed, The Sims, and more all currently available), and today’s acquisition could see them taking a very sharp stab in that “casual, unusual, unique, and quirky” category of games that has everyone going crazy these days.
Pre-acquisition, Chillingo boasted one of the biggest catalogs of published titles for iOS platforms. Not only is their portfolio bulging with titles, a lot of them are extremely high quality gaming experiences. It’s because of their expertise in investing in great titles that EA decided to buy them out in the first place. With this acquisition, we only hope to see more great games make their way from iOS over to Android, and EA’s now in a great position to make that happen.
[via Reuters]
A little bit of my soul just died.
There goes free games from the market. Soon we will see “Angry Birds: Flying Hummingbird Darts” as an add-on for $20
I’m confused…Isn’t rovio the developer? And this seems to contradict itself on what the relationship is to angry birds? So what is it?
There goes the fun of mobile gaming. F*CK YOU, EA!
@Jonathan Drake +1. :(
there goes all the fun. Anyhow, I am sure Android pirates will fill the void.
I used Angry Birds in the headline since most Android users are familiar with it.
This information is entirely incorrect. Rovio is the dev for Angry Birds. Come on Phandroid…at some point you have to edit and check your stories for consistency prior to publishing.
I never said Rovio weren’t the developers. I said Chillingo was the publisher for Angry Birds on the iPhone, which is a fact. I even stated in the article that earlier reports of “Developers of Angry Birds acquired” were incorrect.
This only turns out BAD for us, the consumer. The A-holes at EA will just milk the crap out of this game.
Actually it clearly ststes Chillingo as the publisher, NOT developer. Much like a record company pushes records that producers make. As such there are no contraditions here that are obvious. Lets pay attention people.
people, focus. The guys who published Angry Birds on iPhone have been acquired. Not the developer responsible for the Android version. Calm down.
whoops…that should say states..fast finger itis
Quent…I saw what you did there
I’M SO MAD I’M NOT GOING TO BOTHER READING ANY OF THE FUCKING ARTICLE!!!! BRARGHLERAWR!
@DroidDev reading is fundamental. Publisher =/= Developer
My past experience tells me that EA will manage to make Angry birds a terrible game. Itis .Wyzepro, you must be in my class.
Aaahhhhh!!!!!! No!
@trufty1 Your past experience with not understanding the difference between a publisher and a developer? Chillingo didn’t make this game, they simply published it for iOS. This doesn’t even really have anything to do with Android.
I don’t think it’s all going to be so bad, anyway as for the comment about the prices rising, I doubt that tbh, iPhone applications are extremely cheap by default so I shouldn’t think EA will raise the price by much, if at all….
I have not seen need for speed or any other high quality games from EA on the UK android market….has anyone else?
I really need to learn to make apps. 20 million? These guys probably had ZERO overhead. Two guys working from home creating a game. Now they have $20 million. Geesh, I need to get on the ball.