The maker of Angry Birds has said that their new Angry Birds Space will not be available on Windows based devices the move is a blow to Microsoft.
The move is a blow to Microsoft who is shortly due to launch their new Windows 8 platform for smartphones and tablets.
We’re the No. 1 app in the Windows Phone app store, but it’s a big undertaking to support it, and you have to completely rewrite the application,” Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer of the game’s maker, Rovio Entertainment Oy, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. He said Rovio, which yesterday started selling the new “Angry Birds Space” game for Apple Inc. (APPL)’s iPhone and handsets running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android platform, has no plans to release the title on Windows Phone.
Rovio Chief Executive Officer Mikael Hed later told Reuters the company was “working towards” getting “Angry Birds Space” on the Windows Phone 7 operating system. Hed didn’t return calls to Bloomberg News. Ville Heijari, a spokesman for Rovio, said in e- mailed statement that the company is working toward offering its games on “all relevant platforms” and that it will announce “further platforms as soon as more information is available.”
Nokia is betting on the Windows Phone operating system to revive its struggling smartphone business. The lack of “Angry Birds” may make it more difficult for the company, based in the same Espoo, Finland-based office park as Rovio, to attract gaming-oriented users and persuade developers that its platform is growing.
“This is a worrying development for Windows Phone because it suggests that Rovio does not have much confidence in its future,” Nomura analyst Richard Windsor said today in a report. “As the standard version is already number one on the Windows Phone app store, it gives a strong indication that no one else will expect to be making money writing for this platform either.”
Nokia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop has introduced several Windows Phones since October and plans to bring the handsets next to China, where “Angry Birds” took off last year.
