Rovio teams up with Lappset as Angry Birds set to take over playgrounds

It's not yet the Disney-sized theme park that one might expect - given past comparisons between Rovio and the famed American animation studio - but a new partnership between the Angry Birds developer Rovio and playground equipment manufacturer Lappset has signaled the next step up from plush toys and lunch boxes.

The Angry Birds, along with their pig arch nemeses will feature on a variety of playground equipment, due to appear in Finnish parks sometime in Q1 2012.

The new parks will also feature in-game features to bring the physical and virtual worlds together.

Park life

Rather than go down the theme park route, Rovio CMO Peter Vesterbacka believes that these playground activity sets will promote a more interactive version of the Angry Birds franchise, preferable to making kids wait a hour for a two minute ride.

That's not to say that Rovio isn't aiming just as high as the Burbank-based conglomerate.

Vesterbacka has said that, while currently valued at $2.5 billion, the heady target is to reach the $60 billion valuation of Disney within the next 5-10 years.

The game itself has recently celebrated its two year anniversary having also surpassed the 600 million download mark.

[source: Arctic Startup]