Rovio Entertainment has announced the closure of its Copenhagen development studio following the termination of its mobile game project, Sonic Blitz. The decision, confirmed by a company spokesperson, comes amid a broader restructuring effort and reflects the challenges the studio faced in delivering a sustainable product.
According to the spokesperson, the redundancy process is still underway, making it difficult to provide an exact headcount of those affected. Rough estimates indicate that around twenty people were directly involved in the Sonic Blitz development team.
The spokesperson added that the move to wind down operations in Copenhagen was "extremely difficult" and that the company is fully aware of the personal and professional impact on its employees, especially given the ongoing turbulence within the wider video‑game sector. For staff members who cannot be reassigned to another Rovio project, the firm has pledged a comprehensive transition package. This package includes outplacement assistance, career counseling, and wellbeing support designed to help affected employees secure new roles and navigate the change period with as much stability as possible.
Alexandre Pelletier‑Normand, who serves as both CEO of Rovio and COO of Sega West, explained that the company needed to "concentrate our bets both in terms of the games that we're making and where we're making them." He noted that when Sonic Blitz was first introduced into the Sonic brand, the team believed it would be a strong addition that could resonate with the long‑standing Sonic fan base. "That was the hypothesis," he said. "On paper, the concept looked solid for mobile, but the real test is validation through player engagement and retention." Pelletier‑Normand went on to say that retention metrics for Sonic Blitz fell short of expectations. In the mobile market, long‑term player engagement is a critical early indicator of a game's viability.
"We need to see people engage with the game for a long period of time," he emphasized. "Unfortunately, the numbers didn't reflect that, and the project couldn't sustain itself." Despite the setback, Pelletier‑Normand remains convinced that there is still potential for Sonic on mobile platforms.
He admitted that both Sega and Rovio had underestimated the complexity of translating the iconic hedgehog's experience to a mobile format. "I still am convinced that there is a way to reach more players on mobile with Sonic, it turns out that it's much more complicated than I think both Sega and Rovio thought," he remarked.
"We're still very proud of the game, very proud of what the team achieved, but it didn’t work." Sonic Blitz entered a soft launch phase in 2025, targeting markets in the Philippines and Brazil. However, after a brief testing period, the title was pulled from those regions last month. Rovio framed the shutdown as part of a "broader change" within the studio, emphasizing that the decision does not reflect a lack of passion, creativity, or effort from the development team, nor does it diminish the enthusiastic support the community showed throughout the game's development. The background to this development is the 2023 acquisition of Rovio by Sega for $776 million.
Earlier this year, Sega disclosed a $200 million impairment related to the acquisition after the combined entity's profitability fell short of initial forecasts. One of the cited challenges has been the integration of Rovio's Beacon technology—a location‑based service—into Sega's existing mobile portfolio. Sega CEO Haruki Satomi explained that the operational and marketing approaches of Rovio differ significantly from those traditionally employed by Sega, and that the Beacon system has yet to be fully leveraged in new mobile titles.
"Consequently, we have unfortunately not achieved the level of results that had been expected prior to the acquisition," Satomi said. The closure of the Copenhagen studio underscores the difficulties that even well‑funded, high‑profile collaborations can encounter in the highly competitive mobile gaming arena. While Sonic remains a beloved franchise with a massive global following, adapting its core gameplay and brand identity to the constraints and user expectations of mobile devices proves to be a nuanced challenge. The experience with Sonic Blitz will likely inform future strategies for both Sega and Rovio as they seek to balance brand expansion with realistic market performance.
For the remaining staff at Rovio, the company has indicated that it will continue to evaluate internal projects and reallocate talent where possible, aiming to preserve as many jobs as feasible while maintaining a focus on core titles that have demonstrated strong engagement and revenue potential. The broader industry will be watching closely to see how Sega and Rovio adjust their mobile strategy moving forward, especially in light of the financial write‑down and the lessons learned from the Sonic Blitz venture.
In summary, the Copenhagen studio's shutdown marks a significant shift for Rovio and its parent company, Sega, highlighting the risks inherent in ambitious cross‑franchise mobile endeavors. While the team behind Sonic Blitz can be proud of their creative efforts, the project's inability to achieve sustainable player retention ultimately led to its cancellation and the subsequent restructuring of the development team.