Angry Birds: Casual Gaming to Transmedia Franchise?

If you own a touchscreen device, you are doubtless familiar with one of the entertainment success stories of 2010: Angry Birds.  Developed by Finland-based Rovio Mobile, Angry Birds is a gesture-based game that requires players to destroy a group of evil pigs by shooting an array of colorful birds at the pigs’ fortified structures (gameplay video here).

What you may not be aware of is that the enormous success of Angry Birds – it has racked up over 50 million downloads – its creators are aiming at a somewhat loftier goal: the creation of a Transmedia franchise.  According to a Variety article published in August of 2010, Rovio is working with a group of seasoned licensing advisors to expand the brand beyond games – with the possible endgame of an Angry Birds movie or animated series (and the consumer products tie-ins that would bring).  The business potential of such a model is enormous – Transmedia story strands that are independently profitable but also act in a cross-promotional manner, creating a franchise with an overall value that is greater even than the sum of its parts.

With enormous preexisting brand recognition, it doesn’t seem entirely implausible that such a spin-off could succeed – even though an animated endeavor wouldn’t hit the market for at least two or three years.  To analyze the potential of Angry Birds, I’m going to first look at what Rovio (by design or happenstance) did right, and then consider what it needs to do in order to create a franchise that can be extended and sustained beyond the core game.  As you’ll see, the long term success of the IP is largely based upon whether Rovio and its advisers can grasp the fundamental tenants of Transmedia storytelling.

Why Angry Birds Succeeded

1. The Underlying Game Mechanics

Angry Birds is a textbook example of how to create a casual game. It can be consumed in two-to-five minute increments on a journey or during a commercial break, and each level can be quickly reset for “one more go.”  Its controls are intuitive even for non-game players, and there is a clear cause-and-effect dynamic that allows players to finesse their technique on a particular level.  However, there are thousands of games on the Apple and Android stores – some of which share very similar mechanics to Angry Birds – so we need to look beyond mere gameplay.

2.  Aesthetic and Character Design

Angry Birds manages to hit the design sweet spot.  Its worlds and characters are bright, colorful and clearly drawn.  More importantly, it presents an aesthetic that is highly appealing to children without being so childish that adults feel embarrassed to be seen playing (I regularly see adults playing the game on the New York subway).  In that regard, the references to Pixar in the Variety article perhaps aren’t entirely wide of the mark.

The character designs themselves are particularly strong.  Each type of bird is clearly distinguishable by its shape and color, and – considering the birds are mute – the game manages to give them a good deal of personality through judicious eyebrow placement.  The antagonists too are clearly drawn as greedy and gluttonous, which perhaps compels the player to seek revenge against them with a touch more fervor (especially since they seem to smirk when the player fails a level).

3.  Business Model

Angry Birds has been a pioneer when it comes to implementing new business models for the internet.  It offers free and paid versions – allowing players to become hooked on the game mechanics without an upfront fee.  On the Android, players can download the free version and then pay a fee to remove the (revenue-generating) banner ads. Perhaps most innovatively, Rovio has introduced a feature called “Giant Eagle,” which allows frustrated players to summon a new kind of bird to decimate a particular level and permit them to advance – for a fee, of course.  In all instances, Rovio has also offered additional levels for free – often themed to correspond with upcoming holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving etc.).

The “freemium” model employed by Angry Birds is a rudimentary example of audience indoctrination.  If a widespread franchise is Rovio’s goal, it has passed the first hurdle – injecting its characters into the minds (if perhaps not yet the hearts) of consumers.

4.  Luck

This is perhaps the biggest issue with the ability of Angry Birds to expand beyond its core game mechanics to become a franchise: how much of its success was simply due to luck – being in the right place at the right time, as iPhone (and later iPad) users were looking for strong content.  As I hope I’ve made clear, I think it’s a very well designed piece of software.  However, it’s also clear that by being “first to market” (or thereabouts), Angry Birds was able to ascend to the top of the sales charts and benefit from an exponential loop of sales success.  I can’t speak to how Android’s app market is set up, but on Apple it is far easier to download from the “top 10″ lists than to attempt to seek anything else out.  To successfully extend the brand, Rovio needs to prove that Angry Birds is a property with genuine heart.

Angry Birds as Transmedia

So this brings us back to the essential question: can Angry Birds succeed beyond the core game and yield a franchise that generates massive revenue and satisfying story experiences?

There are a couple of things that I like about Angry Birds that suggest that it has the potential to do so.  The first is that it already – by virtue of its game mechanics – has clearly drawn character classes.  We have different kinds of birds, which are easily distinguishable, possess specific abilities and – presumably – will be shown to have different personalities.  This will help set up story conflict; within the animated series of movies, different birds will approach problems in different ways, allowing for physical action and potentially disagreement.  The antagonists, too, have different classes – there appears to be a general in there who leads the pig forces in their quest to steal eggs.  This is important from the perspective of creating a fan base.  The young target audience will be able to discern personal “favorites” from among the characters – identifying with them and (of course) buying toys and merchandise in their image.

The second thing that I like is that there is a basic story in place:  (1) greedy pigs want to eat the Angry Birds’ eggs; (2) the pigs steal the eggs; (3) the Angry Birds discover the theft and work together to get the eggs back.  The stakes are also implied, because it’s self-evident that eggs are important to birds.  This story is absolutely clear simply from playing the game, through short storybook sequences between levels.  However, Rovio had the wisdom to commission a video animation for Youtube that further expands on the story dynamics; 16 million viewers suggests that it has been a success.

It is not difficult to conceive, therefore, an animated series in the vein of Pinky and the Brain or (I’m showing my age here) Stop the Pigeon.  Each episode, the pigs try a new devious scheme to steal the eggs before ultimately being defeated by the Angry Birds.  However, I have my concerns as to whether the creatives behind the show are going to be able to create something that truly resonates with its target audience on an emotional level.  Putting aside practical issues (should the birds begin to speak?), it will be critical that those working on Angry Birds‘ Transmedia elements devise and communicate a universal story brand essence for the property – something that binds together the various narrative strands, sets parameters for how the characters behave, and opens up the story world to narratives that do more than merely recapitulate the familiar mechanics of the Angry Birds game.

What I’m talking about is theme, and I’m not certain that Angry Birds has established one yet.  Perhaps it’s something about putting aside differences to achieve a common goal, or the value of teamwork.  At any rate, the theme needs to be seriously considered before any further development on the property takes place in order to create something that moves beyond casual finger flicking to become something that means something to audiences on an emotional level.  If Rovio and its partners can achieve that, we may be talking about Angry Birds as a billion dollar franchise a few years from now.