China has always been an important market for Angry Birds.
And now it's getting its own bespoke version of the game.
Rovio has announced it's signed a deal with Chinese publisher Kunlun (SHE:300418) that will see Angry Birds games specifically developed for the market.
Previously Rovio had worked with Chinese companies to culturalise its games for China, but this is the first time the $4 billion mobile game market will have received different content to the rest of the world.
Audience first
"China is a massively important market and the mobile games industry is growing at a very significant pace," said Rovio CEO Pekka Rantala.
"Angry Birds has been downloaded close to half a billion times in China so forming a strategic partnership with Kunlun is an important step that helps Rovio establish an even stronger presence in China's game market with localized content."
It's not the first time a big western publisher has taken this approach, however.
For example, Disney's Where's My Mickey? became Where's My Xi Yiang Yiang? in China.
[source: Rovio]