3.5亿下载不是顶点，愤怒的小鸟越飞越高

    《愤怒的小鸟》（Angry Birds）系列游戏仍然在源源不断地创造价值。

    有人怀疑这款休闲视频游戏的人气是否已经到顶。游戏的开发商Rovio公司北美区总经理安德鲁•斯托尔堡不这么认为。本月12日，斯托尔堡透露，《愤怒的小鸟》自2009年12月推出以来，下载次数已经达到3.5亿次。所有游戏玩家每天花在这款游戏上的时间总计多达3亿分钟。目前的下载次数比《财富》杂志（Fortune）今年六月探访Rovio时又增加了1.5亿次，是去年三月份报道数据的三倍多。

    更令人惊讶的则是游戏周边商品的疯狂销量。从年6月起，Rovio已经售出300多万个绒毛玩具，不过斯托尔堡表示目前该玩具销量是每月100万个。此外，Rovio每月还能售出100万件T恤。

    Rovio目前风头正劲，《愤怒的小鸟》已经获得了全方位成功：一方面游戏横跨iOS、Android、Nook、Chrome网络应用等多个平台，获取途径超过25种；另一方面由于Rovio今年夏初收购了位于赫尔辛基的动画工作室Kombo，有消息称电影版《愤怒的小鸟》正在制作之中。还有消息称，亚马逊（Amazon）将于今年晚些时候发布Kindle平板。虽然斯托尔堡并未确认《愤怒的小鸟》将会登陆这一平台，但鉴于两者的亲密关系，Rovio出现在亚马逊的新平台似乎是毫无争议的，这事宜早不宜迟。此前，两家公司已经就《愤怒的小鸟，里约》（Angry Birds Rio）达成了独家销售协议。

    正如我们此前报道的那样，《愤怒的小鸟》将于今年年底前推出两种新的游戏体验。新的游戏玩法将与目前完全不同，将会融合地理定位等热门新功能。眼下，Rovio正在修补这项功能，以便将人流吸引到商场和饭店等消费场所。换言之，《愤怒的小鸟》还会继续推陈出新。

    译者：项航

    Angry Birds is the game franchise that just keeps on giving.

    Some wonder whether the casual video game's popularity has peaked. Rovio's General Manager for North America, Andrew Stalbow, thinks otherwise. Today, Stalbow revealed that there have been 350 million Angry Birds downloads since the game's launch in December 2009. PLayers are putting in an astonishing 300 million minutes of gameplay -- every day. That's 150 million more downloads than when Fortune checked in on Rovio back in June and more than triple the number of downloads reported last March.

    More surprising may be how big the merchandise side has become. As of last June, the company had sold three million plush toys, but now Stalbow says they're selling one million a month, in addition to selling one million t-shirts each month.

    The news bodes well for Rovio, which is capitalizing on Angry Birds' success in every way possible, with more than 25 ways to get it across multiple platforms -- iOS, Android, Nook, Chrome Web app -- to talks of an Angry Birds movie that would likely be developed in-house thanks to the acquisition of Helsinki-based animation studio Kombo earlier this summer. On the subject of Amazon's reported Kindle tablet, due out later this year, Stalbow wouldn't confirm an app, but given the companies' close relationship -- the two collaborated on the exclusive distribution of Angry Birds Rio -- Rovio's presence on the new platform seems inevitable, sooner rather than later.

    And as we'd previously reported, expect two new Angry Birds experiences by the end of the year with new kinds of gameplay entirely unlike the current crop using buzzy new features like geolocation, something the company is tinkering with to draw foot traffic to stores and restaurants. In other words, there's lots more to come.