Rovio Entertainment announced that its Copenhagen studio will be closed following the cancellation of the mobile title Sonic Blitz. The decision marks a significant shift for the Finnish developer, which has been grappling with the broader challenges affecting the games sector. According to a spokesperson speaking to Mobilegamer.biz, the redundancy process is still underway, making it difficult to provide an exact headcount of those impacted. Roughly twenty people were directly involved in the development of Sonic Blitz, and they are among the employees who will be affected by the studio's shutdown.
The spokesperson emphasized that the move to cease operations in Copenhagen was "extremely difficult" and that the company fully acknowledges the personal and professional impact on its staff. "We understand how disruptive this is, especially given the ongoing volatility in the wider gaming industry," the representative added.
For those team members who cannot be reassigned to another Rovio project, the company pledged a comprehensive transition package. This package includes outplacement assistance, career counseling, and wellbeing support designed to help former employees secure new opportunities as quickly as possible. Alexandre Pelletier‑Normand, who serves as both Rovio's chief executive officer and the chief operating officer of Sega West, explained that the closure reflects a strategic refocus on where the company places its bets.
"We needed to concentrate our bets both in terms of the games that we're making and where we're making them," he said. Pelletier‑Normand recalled the initial optimism surrounding Sonic Blitz, noting that the title was intended to be a fresh addition to the Sonic brand that would resonate with the franchise's dedicated fan base.
"When we introduced Sonic Blitz into the Sonic portfolio, we believed it could be a great addition and please the Sonic fandom," he explained. However, the reality of mobile gaming proved more complex than the hypothesis suggested.
Pelletier‑Normand described how, on paper, the concept looked promising, but the crucial metric of player retention fell short. "In mobile, you need to validate the hypothesis, and in our case retention wasn't really good. Retention is one of the first steps; we need to see people engage with the game for a long period of time," he said.
The CEO remained convinced that Sonic could eventually find a foothold on mobile platforms, but he admitted that both Sega and Rovio had underestimated the difficulty of translating a beloved console character into a sustainable mobile experience. "I still am convinced that there is a way to reach more players on mobile with Sonic, but it turns out that it's much more complicated than we thought," he added, concluding, "We're still very proud of the game, very proud of what the team achieved, but it didn’t work." Sonic Blitz had entered a soft launch phase in 2025, targeting markets in the Philippines and Brazil. Despite the initial rollout, the title was pulled from those regions last month, a move the developer framed as part of a "broader change" at the Copenhagen studio. The company stressed that the shutdown does not reflect a lack of passion, creativity, or effort from the development team, nor does it diminish the enthusiastic support the game received from its community during development.
"We want to be clear that this decision is not a reflection of the passion, creativity or effort that went into making Sonic Blitz, nor the amazing support we received from our community throughout the development of the game," the statement read. The closure also ties into the larger financial context of Sega's acquisition of Rovio. Sega purchased Rovio for $776 million in 2023, a deal that initially promised synergies between the two companies' mobile strategies.
Earlier this year, Sega disclosed a $200 million impairment charge related to the acquisition after the expected profitability fell short of forecasts. One of the key integration challenges cited by Sega's chief executive officer, Haruki Satomi, involved the incorporation of Rovio's Beacon technology into Sega's existing mobile portfolio.
"We found that the operational and marketing methods and approaches significantly differ from Rovio titles, and new mobile games are yet to fully exploit Beacon," Satomi explained. The mismatch in operational philosophies and the underperformance of the Sonic Blitz project contributed to the disappointing results that fell short of the expectations set before the acquisition.
In summary, the closure of Rovio's Copenhagen studio underscores the difficulties of navigating a rapidly evolving mobile gaming market, especially when attempting to adapt a legacy franchise like Sonic to a new platform. While the company remains proud of the creative work produced by its team, the commercial realities forced a hard decision to shut down the studio and discontinue Sonic Blitz. The affected employees will receive support to transition to new roles, and Rovio will continue to reassess its strategic priorities as it moves forward in a competitive industry.