adminThe Rovio Copenhagen studio closure follows the cancellation of Sonic Blitz, a mobile game that the company tested in selected markets. Rovio says the decision reflects the need to focus its development efforts, while the game’s early performance did not meet expectations for keeping players engaged.
Image credit: Rovio/Sega
Rovio Copenhagen studio closure and staff impact
Rovio has ended operations at its Copenhagen studio after discontinuing Sonic Blitz. The company has not confirmed how many employees will be affected because its redundancy process is still underway. About 20 people had been working on the game, but that figure does not establish how many will leave the company.
Rovio said it would try to place affected team members on other projects where possible. For employees who cannot be reassigned, the company described a transition package that includes outplacement assistance and wellbeing support. Anyone following the staffing changes should distinguish between the approximate team size and the still-unconfirmed number of redundancies.
Why Rovio stopped development of Sonic Blitz
Sonic Blitz began its soft launch in the Philippines and Brazil in 2025. Rovio later shut the game down as part of a wider change at the studio. The company said the decision was not intended to diminish the creativity or work of the team, or the support the game received from its community.
Rovio CEO and Sega West COO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand explained that the company needs to be more selective about both the games it develops and the locations where it makes them. He said the team had hoped the title would appeal to Sonic fans, but player retention was not strong enough. In mobile games, retention is an important early indicator of whether people continue returning to play.
Pelletier-Normand also said that reaching more players with Sonic on mobile has proved more complicated than Sega and Rovio expected. He expressed pride in the game and the team’s work, while acknowledging that the project had not produced the desired outcome.
Sega’s Rovio acquisition and mobile strategy
Sega acquired Rovio for $776 million in 2023. Earlier this year, Sega reported a $200 million impairment against the acquisition cost, citing profitability that had fallen below its initial forecast.
Sega has also described difficulties combining Rovio’s Beacon technology with its own mobile games. CEO Haruki Satomi said that Rovio’s operating and marketing approaches differ significantly from those used for Sega titles, and that newer mobile games had not yet made full use of Beacon. Sega said the results had therefore not reached the level anticipated before the acquisition.
What the Rovio Copenhagen studio closure means
The closure connects the end of Sonic Blitz with a broader effort to concentrate Rovio’s resources. The available information does not confirm the final number of affected employees, so that figure should not be inferred from the game’s approximate team size. The Rovio Copenhagen studio closure also highlights the challenges of testing a mobile game: early interest matters, but sustained player engagement is crucial to a title’s prospects.
