How did this thing -- these little birds change
the world? How did this happen? >>Peter Vesterbacka:
Yeah, so, actually, everybody always thinks
that it was, like, an overnight success. And
these guys made a game and then, you know,
people started downloading and all of that.
But, actually, Rovio has been making games
since 2003. And this was our 52nd game.
>>Sal Masekela: Really?
[ laughter ]
>>Peter Vesterbacka: So, yeah. It took a while.
So it's, like, overnight success that took
a couple years.
[ Laughter ]
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah, basically, we kept
believing. We, actually, did a lot of games
for EA and GameHouse and Nokia and all that.
So this was one of the first ones we did for
ourselves. So yeah.
>>Sal Masekela: I read today that, as of the
middle of the month, 350 million downloads?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah. And there's a few
more now. But --
>>Sal Masekela: Sorry.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah, good start.
>>Sal Masekela: Yeah, that's not a bad start.
350 million. Did you have any idea remotely
that it would become something this crazy?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: I don't think anybody
on the team thought it would be this huge.
We had a pretty good indication that it would
be different than a lot of our games because
Niklas, one of our founders -- you know how
it is. You make a new game, and then you want
to show friends and family, like, look what
we did? At Christmas 2009, he gave his phone
to his mom and, "Okay. Why don't you have
a look, this new Angry Birds game that we
made?" Typically, what happens, when you give
a game to your mom, that looks at it and,
nice, give the phone back. With Angry Birds,
he didn't get the phone back. So that's a
pretty strong indication that there might
be something in Angry Birds.
>>Sal Masekela: Wow! Where did the idea, the
premise come from?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah, so we, actually,
were in a position after, like, 51 games where
the company was struggling. And we really
had to come up with something. And then we
decided to take a totally different approach.
Very, very analytical, looking at what makes
a great game. Analyzed a lot of games, mobile,
web, everything. And then Jaakko Iisalo, who
is one of our game designers --
>>Sal Masekela: Say that again.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Jaakko Iisalo. That's
from Finland, so yeah. Or Jaakko for short.
But, anyway, he'd been drawing these bird
characters for years. And then he came up
with a game designed around those birds. And
everybody loved the bird characters, but couldn't
really figure out the game. But we decided
that, okay, we have to build a game around
the bird characters.
And then we had 12 people. And took eight
months to build the game. So the pigs were
introduced during that process. And very late
in the process we, actually, introduced the
slingshot. So, originally, we just were flicking
these birds and all of that. And they didn't
really -- people couldn't figure it out. So
then we added a slingshot. And then you instantly
know how to play. So it's -- yeah. Took a
while. And it was good that it took a while,
because we had time to really polish the game
and make it what it is today.
>>Sal Masekela: The slingshot that changed
the world.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah. Yeah.
>>Sal Masekela: You could be the only game
that's played by most heads of state on the
planet. I read that President Obama is a fan.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah. he had the BlackBerry.
Now it's the iPad. But yeah.
>>Sal Masekela: Prime Minister of Russia.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah. President of Russia,
he plays that.
>>Sal Masekela: Australia.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Australian Prime Minister.
Yeah, she plays as well. To be clear, she
doesn't have a lot of time to play, just to
be clear.
>>Sal Masekela: I imagine, if you're one of
the leaders of the free world and you're stressed
out about some politics, it's a good way to
get your frustrations out. If I'm the president
and I've just gotten out of a session with
John Boehnor, I'm going to definitely play
some Angry Birds.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah, yeah. We just heard
our games are changing our world. If they
can cure people, why can't we cure bigger
world problems? And I totally buy into this
Nobel peace prize goal. So let's go for that.
[ Laughter ]
>>Sal Masekela: What do you say to the people
who criticize a game like yours that totally
makes an addict? I mean, I'm an addict. My
finners sometimes just stays cranked to the
side from the slingshot. I don't know if you
have some sort of 12-step group.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Not yet, but we've been
asked for it.
>>Sal Masekela: What do you say to the people
who say that we're creating time wasters in
these games?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: You can always -- there's
a lot of things that waste time. So that's
nothing new there. But I think that what is
really, really important that we get so much
fan mail from, especially from grandparents,
that this is kind of like one of the things
that really, you know, lets them connect with
their grandchildren, that they can play this
together. And we get that every day.
And also, like, at this conference, so much
like "my wife never plays games, but she plays
Angry Birds." And, you know, just heard that
people play Angry Birds in bed together. So
that's fun.
[ Laughter ]
>>Peter Vesterbacka: But, anyway, so it connects
people, clearly.
>>Sal Masekela: Now, your background -- before
Rovio you were at HP, correct?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah.
>>Sal Masekela: I read there was a contest
or something that you participated in that
sort of helped you get to this place to build
the platform.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: I was at HP for a long
time, so know the corporate life as well.
I organized the competition to create the
best mobile multiplayer game back in 2003.
And that was when the first Nokia smartphones
appeared way before the iPhone. So there's
stuff before that. Anyway, so Niklas and the
two founders, two of his friends, were actually
starting at the Helsinki University of Technology.
So they took part in the competition, won,
and came to me and said, "What do we do now?"
I said, "Why don't you start a company that
makes games? It's, you know, easy." And then
51 games later Angry Birds. So that's how
it happened.
>>Sal Masekela: Wow. So movies, incredible
merchandise, like that stuffed animal that
I'm going to steal from Tony Hawk because
-- yes. It's on!
[Off mic]
>>Sal Masekela: I can't -- I don't have kids.
I can't fight you on that.
What's the future? Tell me -- movies, obviously,
is next.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah, I think that's
-- we haven't viewed ourselves as a games
company. When we, actually, went for this
Angry Birds strategy, the idea was to make
games for the iPhone and smartphones until
we have a hit. And then kind of, like, take
it everywhere to all the screens. So that's
kind of, like, what we've been doing with
Angry Birds. And for us it's, actually -- we
only care about two things: Our fans and our
brand. So right now we're taking our brand
everywhere.
So we started with games. Then we have the
merchandising. So we sold a few of those toys.
Smaller. But, anyway, a million a month so
far.
And then we're also doing a lot of other merchandise.
So that's going very well.
And animation. We bought an animation studio.
We're going to produce a whole bunch of animated
shorts. We already have 170 million views
on YouTube which is --
>>Sal Masekela: That's it?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah. But we're only
getting started. It's not like Bieber numbers,
but we'll get there.
>>Sal Masekela: I don't know. 170 million
is pretty strong. You should partner up with
--
>>Peter Vesterbacka: It's more than most of
the Hollywood studios. But, again, that's
not, like, an amazing benchmark anyways. So
we want to be the first entertainment brand
with a billion fans. So that's, basically,
what we're building.
>>Sal Masekela: A billion with a B?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah. And, once we reach
that, then two. But yeah. A billion is a good
start.
>>Sal Masekela: You should probably try to
set some goals for yourself.
[ Laughter ]
>>Sal Masekela: Sounds like you're not really
thinking outside the box, at all.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: I think it was a really
good to listen to the discussion before. Also
that, for us, I mean, we -- when we talk about
fans -- so we really talk to our fans every
day. Twitter, Facebook, and then, you know,
BABEL, renren in China, all the different
social networks around the world.
So it's something that most of the current
entertainment brands don't do. So I think
that's a huge difference. And, of course,
that also allowed us to build Angry Birds
into what is probably the fastest growing
brand ever. And we spent zero on advertising.
>>Sal Masekela: Zero?
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Nothing. Yeah. That's
all word of mouth. Angry Birds. Why are the
birds angry? Color red. When we launched,
no other app had a red icon in the app store.
Those are things we thought about. How do
we get the game out without having a marketing
budget? So it's, again -- kind of like the
big thing that we have done is really changed
the way these things are marketed and how
you build brands.
>>Sal Masekela: Wow! That's really cool. My
favorite part of the game is the boomerang
toucan. He's fantastic. I think you should
have a level just with the boomerang Toucan.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: The boomerang bird and
the toucan is very interesting. A lot of people
love that, and a lot of people hate the toucan.
We actually made a short animation for our
summer update where we actually made the boomerang
bird very popular. So we explained his background
and kind of like his challenges. So that's,
yeah, part of the story.
>>Sal Masekela: Your job does not suck, sir.
Pleasure.
>>Peter Vesterbacka: Yeah, it's great.
[ Applause ]
