‘Angry Birds’ company is reportedly about to be sold

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Sega is close to buying Rovio, the creator of the Angry Birds franchise, for $1 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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It's surprising given the decline in Angry Birds' popularity since its peak in 2014.

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Rovio attempted to revive the franchise with movie adaptations, but failed to achieve the same success.

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Rovio removed the original game from Google Play Store and renamed the iOS version to Red's First Flight to promote freemium sequels.

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Rovio previously failed to close an $800 million deal with Playtika.

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Angry Birds was the first mobile game to reach 1 billion downloads, and Rovio claimed its combined library of games had reached 5 billion downloads.

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There might be an argument for Rovio's valuation based on downloads.

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Sega might be interested in launching Angry Birds into new markets.

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Sega could potentially leverage Angry Birds to create a new set of heroes on par with Sonic and friends.

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A successful mobile games franchise could be the key to propelling new heroes for Sega.

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