The success of Angry Birds

What is it about this highly philosophical game that keeps attracting new players and makes it so succesful that it's now (becoming) available on virtually every gaming platform around? It has been released on iPhone, iPad,  Android, Nintendo Wii, PSP, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC and has been downloaded 12 million times till December 2010! And this is only the paid version. The free “light” version has been downloaded 30 million times! With an average selling price of €0,79 developer Rovio made an astonishing €6.6 million! 6.6 MILLION EUROS! Besides the selling revenue, the developer is making money with the in game ads. With a total amount of 42 million downloaded copies Rovio is making serious money.

Storyline

For all of you who don't know what I'm talking about.. Here is the full and complete storyline: In Angry Birds you try to catapult birds at pigs. The birds are angry because the pigs have stolen their eggs. C'est ça.

Simplicity is key

I think this “simpleness” is part of the succes. It is accesible and can be played for a few minutes. The storyline is very thin, but the characters are nicely designed. Both the pigs and the birds have different features which can be unlocked throughout the game, which makes it very addictive. When you fail at a level, you can instantly try again. It's not about hardcore gameplay or groundbreaking graphics, it's killing time when you're on the bus to school or waiting for a meeting.

Who still wants to play that big block buster game from last year? But almost everyone can be amused by playing the oldschool Tetris on your Game Boy. It's the simple ideas that last the longest. 

Psychological review

I'm not the first to write about Angry Birds. A lot has been written about it already and psychologist Mel Joseph Ciena explains it as follows: "It gives you the false impression you're competitive and achieving something, but, really, you're achieving at things that are relatively safe and anonymous. It becomes addictive because you get the false impression you are improving as a person. But you are improving at the wrong thing. You're just becoming an expert at a frickin' game."

What do you think explains the success of Angry Birds? Leave a message below.