Letter to Rovio

[MikeMaz]

I doubt this will reach anyone who cares, but I thought I’d post this here. I am probably (according to my friends) an overanxious father, but whatever.  This was my final plea to Rovio and then going to do my best to help my kid move on
to Rovio

Dear Rovio Support,

I don’t know if you can help me, but I would like you to pass this onto the development team.

I am a father of 3. I have 2 boys 14 and 12 and a 9 year old girl.  My boys played all the AB games as kids and when we would go to Dave &Busters they would have to get enough tickets to get AB plush toys.  We had AB everything – pajamas, sheets, you name it.  It was AB all day every day.

My daughter was younger but wanted in on what her brothers were playing, but she had different preferences. She loved (LOVES) Angry Birds Rio (especially 1 and especially the Beach Volley one).  We had to see the movie many times.

She LOVED (LOVES) Angry Bird Seasons most of all and turned all of her friends onto it when they were only 5 or 6.   They would make up stories around each one and she would ask me about the things going on in them. I actually taught her about the French Revolution via AB Seasons Marie Hamtoinette.  Incredible. She wanted to know what fairy tales the Fairy Hog Mother was based on and though I couldn’t match each one, we found enough to pair them up.   I showed her how movies were made via Piggywood Studios and I taught her about Winter Olympics via On Finn Ice and other things (South Hamerica and Piglantis).

Seasons was an amazing hit with these girls. They made up stories for Summer Camp and Fairy Hog Mother. They would all come over and play together – and have all these little stories going ALL the time for all the different games….the delightful squeals were enough for any parent to be happy about.

I’ve never seen any game stoke her imagination like AB Seasons.  My boys still tenjoy AB games but she and her friends (about 5 or 6 of them) are all about AB Seasons and AB Rio.   The boys will go for straight shoot em up and action games, but my daughter loves more complex/story activated games.  The boys have all but moved on from AB games (they like Transformers but it’s not like it used to be).  My daughter seems to never grow tired of Seasons. She loves Pig Days and even though she could zoom through them and get 3 stars on all the Pig Days, she never tired of it.

With Seasons and Rio and sometimes Space (her least favorite), when she gets 3 stars on all levels and has played enough of the games she needs to get lots of points to open, we delete it and download it again from the App store. Last year we deleted it and couldn’t find it.  She was crushed.  But it came back after about a week.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that it was gone again and asked if it was coming back. No answer.  She’s been trying to get into AB classic, but there are no “stories” and she finds it boring. (she did like Jurassic Pork though). I tried really hard to get her into AB Classic, but she complained that when she got to The Big Setup it was the same thing over and over (she like Short Fuse). She complained that Ham Em High was also boring.  I looked at them and she’s right.  Other than Short Fuse and Jurassic Pork, AB Classic is kinda boring.  She is somewhat lost without Seasons but I kept warning her that Rovio seems to have abandoned it and I doubt it is coming back.

I do not believe that the game industry caters to little girls.  This problem exists across the board.  Maybe Rovio doesn’t understand that little girls don’t want to just play bubble games.   I don’t want my kids playing bubble and match games.  It doesn’t help them AT ALL.  The slingshot games, especially with stories, is what captures their imagination and keeps them playing. It has helped my daughter with hand/eye coordination but the STORIES are what keeps girls interested in Seasons.  They are amazing. I can’t believe Rovio would abandon such a special game with such potential reach.   The slingshot games made Rovio rich and they just don’t care about that.

Now Rovio is just another game developer in the app store.  Nothing special.  AB Classic, Seasons, AB Rio, AB Space etc. is what made Rovio special and made it money.

The birds and pigs are just mascots now.  I honestly wish that Rovio would rethink its strategy and keep it the special company it was.  It DESERVED to SKYROCKET to fame and fortune after the classic AB came into existence and extending the brand via Seasons was BRILLIANT especially with the addition of Pig Days and the Pig Challenge (also gone without warning).  It’s a shame it ended. I am told that the original crew who dreamed up all those special episodes that my daughter loves so, are gone from Rovio.  It’s truly a shame.  Bubble and match games are not brilliant. They are just not.

Any company can make a match and bubble game.   Big deal.  I hope that Rovio rethinks its abandonment of the slingshot games and brings back the originals. I know this will most likely fall on deaf ears but I felt compelled to say my piece before I urge my daughter to move on.  She doesn’t want to, but it’s time for me to convince her that she has no choice.

Thank you for listening.

Michael Massonelli
New York

 

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