Get ANGRY: Tracing the Downfall of a Once-Beloved Series

How many of you remember going home after school, finishing some homework (curse you, fractions!), and looked for something fun to do after finally being done with the day? Personally, I would boot up the olʼ PlayStation 3 and decide to kick back, but there was always an issue. My older brothers loved to hog the PS3 (shoutout Skyrim, BO2, and Kingdom Hearts), leaving me stuck with the VERY old iPad my older brother never touched. In their mercy, they downloaded games for me to play, and when five-year-old me looked at the app icons, one caught my attention: Angry Birds. My favorite color was red, so seeing the main character be a red bird (who was appropriately named “Red”) fascinated me. Released in 2009, Angry Birds is a game where you command a team of birds (most notably "Red," "Chuck," and "Bomb"), with the player launching the feathered friends at enemy pigs. Through the use of a catapult, the goal for the player was to destroy the pigsʼ buildings; however, this seemingly needless act of violence was completely justified. The pigs loved nothing more than to steal the birdsʼ eggs! As a result, the birds became angry (see what I did there?) and would battle the detested swine to reclaim their shelled young. The birds were the heroes, and nobody can ever say otherwise.

My interest in Angry Birds began to swell, leading me to play a trio of titles upon their respective releases: 2012ʼs Angry Birds Space (a beloved adventure where the birds are in space and joined by a new bird - the famed "Ice Bird"), 2014ʼs Angry Birds Epic (which strayed away from the original catapult-based game mechanic in favor of a turn-based role-playing game, including a phenomenal story and online mode), and 2013ʼs Angry Birds Go! (a fun 3D racing game that was noted for its colors and fun gameplay).

While these games helped to develop the Angry Birds franchise while also branching out into new game styles, cracks began to surface, particularly with Angry Birds Go! The game was plagued with microtransactions, forcing the player to decide whether to pay for the cars that were locked behind a paywall, struggle trying to keep up with the users who paid to win, or choose not to give Rovio Entertainment (the company behind Angry Birds) a single cent. It quickly metamorphosed into a moral battle. With the release of Angry Birds 2 in 2015, it became increasingly apparent that Rovio Entertainment was more interested in microtransactions as a means to profit than maintaining the spirit that made the original game so enjoyable. The game was fun, but it was entirely bombarded with advertisements and microtransactions, unlike its predecessor. This made many dislike the sequel and placed further distrust in Rovio Entertainment.

Rovio decided they needed to do something fast in order to get their fans back, leading to the release of The Angry Birds Movie in 2016. Starring Jason Sudeikis as "Red," the movie follows Red as a lonely outsider on an island full of happy, carefree birds. Green pigs begin to arrive on the island, seemingly friendly at first. However, Red does not trust them, and rightfully so, as the pigs steal the birdsʼ eggs, leading Red to team up with others in order to save the eggs. The movie was a financial success, grossing $352 million worldwide. Rovio saw how well the movie did and decided to make a sequel that, just like the game, did not live up to its predecessor. While the movie was not horrible by any means, it did underperform in theaters, relying on cheap slapstick humor that was not very humorous (but is still a guilty pleasure of mine).

Rovio decided to make more Angry Birds games, but failed to capture the charm of the past titles; the games did quite badly, causing Rovio to delist all the original games so users would be forced to play the new ones.

This was the final straw for many fans who decided to leave the series altogether. Rovio is still trying to get its fans to come back to the series by releasing a new Angry Birds movie this December, but instead of it having an amazing story like Angry Birds Space, itʼs about Red... becoming a father??? Many fans, including myself, have come to terms with Rovio becoming nothing more than a greedy company. It saddens me to say goodbye to a franchise that I loved so dearly.

Angry Birds was once more than a game hidden in the app store; it was a core aspect of my childhood, a cultural phenomenon of a generation, and a franchise beloved by millions. Yet sadly, due to corporate greed and questionable business decisions, Rovio destroyed the charm the series once had, which will always break my heart. The birds may never soar as high as they once did, but for those of us who grew up launching them at those darn pigs, the memories will always remain.