Angry Birds Space launched today amid some of the largest marketing hoopla ever for a mobile game.
The title from Finland’s Rovio Entertainment is the sequel to Angry Birds, the game where you slingshot cute angry bird characters at mean green pigs who have stolen the birds eggs. If you didn’t know that, you’re clearly not among the 700 million people who have downloaded the mobile game in the last couple of years. Angry Birds has been the most successful mobile game to date, and the launch of the new game is aimed at extending the momentum of the franchise.
To commemorate the launch of the space game, Rovio partnered with T-Mobile USA create a 300-foot-tall slingshot and Angry Bird mounted on the Seattle Space Needle. Rovio also cut a deal to embed codes in Angry Birds Space store merchandise at 2,000 Walmart locations, starting on March 25. The deals are all aimed at taking awareness of Angry Birds Space into the stratosphere.
While the original Angry Birds launched with little fanfare on the Apple App Store in December, 2009, today’s title is available simultaneously on iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch), Android, the PC, and the Mac. It’s even on the Barnes & Noble Nook eBook reader.
“We are proud to finally make Angry Birds Space available to all our fans worldwide, and it has been simply thrilling to work with T-Mobile on another larger
than life Angry Birds installation,” said Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer and Mighty Eagle of Rovio.
At Walmart, fans can get access to “Golden Eggsteroid” clues that unlock four bonus levels in the game. The clues are embedded in limited-edition Angry Birds merchandise such as apparel, plush toys, mobile phones, snacks and more. Walmart is also offering the first of four special clues today to its 12 million Facebook fans. Samsung also has an Angry Birds promotion going on with its Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone.
Here’s the new YouTube video for the game.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc-XlVLHJDo]