Angry Birds Action! pinball-inspired mobile game is just a piece of Rovio’s giant transmedia strategy

Angry Birds Action! is a fast-action free-to-play mobile game where you can smash piggies with Angry Bird characters in a pinball-like fashion. It’s been in the works for a while, but it’s just the tip of a the spear in Rovio Entertainment‘s gigantic transmedia strategy to cash in on its famous feathered franchise.

Angry Birds Action! debuts today on a global scale, and it is integrated with an unprecedented augmented-reality campaign where consumers can scan BirdCodes from the physical world into their smartphone or tablet game and earn power ups that they can use in the digital app. Rovio hopes to get a billion BirdCodes into the hands of consumers in 50 different markets through partnerships with 20 brands, including H&M, McDonald’s, Lego, Walmart, and PEZ. All of this will lead up to the May 13 launch of The Angry Birds Movie in the United Kingdom and the May 20 debut in the U.S.