Angry Birds 2 brought in record revenues for the three months ending March 31st 2018 to help boost Rovio's profits.

Games segment revenue grew 0.4 per cent to €56.8 million ($67m). Angry Birds 2 was the standout title once again with gross bookings growing by 8.5 per cent year-on-year.

Angry Birds Match meanwhile was said to have continued its steady performance. No mention was made of Battle Bay or Angry Birds Evolution.

Revenues for the company’s brand licensing business meanwhile declined by 8.8 percent to €8.9 million ($10.5m), though this is expected to rise in 2019 when the Angry Birds Movie 2 is released in cinemas.

Overall the Finnish developer’s revenues fell by 0.9 per cent year-on-year to €65.7 million ($77m). However, operating profit increased by almost 75 per cent to €9.2 million ($10.8m) for the quarter.

UA spending falls as cost per user rises

Rovio noted that user acquisition spend on its games portfolio - seemingly a big point of contention for investors following the IPO - decreased to €14.6 million ($17.1m) from €16.4 million ($19.3m) the year prior.

This represented 25.7 per cent of the game segment's revenue, with the company forecasting UA activity will take up around 30 per cent of games sales for the full year.

Rovio CEO Kati Levoranta also said that the company is extending the payback time range for its UA investments to eight to 12 months as of Q2. Previously its payback range covered eight to 10 months.

It was noted that cost per acquired user “has risen significantly in the market”.

Elsewhere Rovio reaffirmed its intention to invest between €10 million to €15 million ($11.7m to $17.6m) in its cloud-based gaming subsidiary Hatch Entertainment, of which it owns 80 per cent.

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