Rovio has closed its Copenhagen studio after cancelling its mobile title Sonic Blitz.
A spokesperson told Mobilegamer.biz that, as the redundancy process is ongoing, they cannot confirm the exact number of staff affected. However, approximately 20 employees were working on Sonic Blitz.
“The decision to discontinue our operations in Copenhagen has been extremely difficult,” the spokesperson said. “We fully recognise the impact this has on our team, especially given the ongoing challenges within the broader games industry.”
“For team members who we cannot allocate to a new project within Rovio, we will provide a comprehensive transition package, including dedicated outplacement services and wellbeing support to assist them in securing their next career opportunities.”
Rovio CEO and Sega West COO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand said that it “need[ed] to concentrate our bets both in terms of the games that we’re making and where we’re making them.”
“When [Sonic Blitz] was introduced into the brand, we felt that this was a great addition and one that could please the Sonic fandom,” he said.
“That was the hypothesis. And in mobile, it looks great on paper, and then you just need to validate it, and it seems that retention hasn’t been really good for us, which is one of the first steps. We need to see people engage with the game for a long period of time.”
Pelletier-Normand continued: “I still am convinced that there is a way to reach more players on mobile with Sonic, it turns out that it’s much more complicated than I think both Sega and Rovio thought. We’re still very proud of the game, very proud of what the team achieved, but it didn’t work.”
Sonic Blitz soft launched in 2025 in the Philippines and Brazil, but was shut down last month. Rovio stated that this decision was part of a “broader change” at the studio.
“We want to be clear that this decision is not a reflection of the passion, creativity or effort that went into making Sonic Blitz, nor the amazing support we received from our community throughout the development of the game,” the developer said.
Sega acquired Rovio for $776 million in 2023. Earlier this year, Sega reported a $200 million impairment on the acquisition cost after profitability “fell below the initial forecast.”
Sega reported challenges integrating Rovio’s Beacon technology with its own mobile titles.
“We found that the operational and marketing methods and approaches significantly differ from Rovio titles and new mobile games are yet to fully exploit Beacon,” said Sega CEO Haruki Satomi.
“Consequently, we have unfortunately not achieved the level of results that had been expected prior to the acquisition.”