Rovio Entertainment has announced the closure of its Copenhagen development studio, a move that follows the recent cancellation of its mobile game Sonic Blitz. The decision marks a significant shift for the Finnish publisher, which had been attempting to expand its portfolio with a Sonic‑the‑Hedgehog title aimed at the global mobile market. According to a statement provided to Mobilegamer.biz, the company is still in the midst of a redundancy process and therefore cannot disclose the precise headcount of employees affected.
The spokesperson did note, however, that roughly twenty people had been dedicated to the Sonic Blitz effort. Those individuals were working on everything from core gameplay mechanics to art, sound design, and live‑operations support.
"The choice to wind down our Copenhagen operations has been incredibly tough," the spokesperson explained. "We are fully aware of the impact this has on our staff, especially given the ongoing headwinds that the wider games industry is experiencing right now." For the team members who cannot be reassigned to another Rovio project, the company promises a comprehensive transition package. This includes outplacement assistance, career‑coaching services, and wellbeing support designed to help former employees secure new roles in the industry or elsewhere. The aim is to smooth the difficult transition and demonstrate that Rovio values the contributions of its staff, even when projects do not reach fruition.
Alexandre Pelletier‑Normand, who serves as both CEO of Rovio and COO of Sega West, elaborated on the strategic rationale behind the closure. He said the company needed to "concentrate our bets both in terms of the games that we're making and where we're making them." In other words, Rovio is refocusing its resources on proven franchises and markets where it has a stronger competitive advantage. When Sonic Blitz was first introduced, Pelletier‑Normand believed the title would be a natural fit for the Sonic fan base. "We thought it would be a great addition and could really please the Sonic community," he said.
The hypothesis was that a well‑designed, fast‑paced runner‑style game could capture the essence of Sonic while leveraging the massive reach of mobile platforms. In practice, however, the game struggled to meet key performance indicators. "On paper it looked solid, but you have to validate it in the real world," Pelletier‑Normand noted.
The primary metric that fell short was player retention – the ability to keep users engaged over an extended period. "Retention hasn't been really good for us, which is one of the first steps. We need to see people engage with the game for a long period of time," he added.
Despite the disappointing results, Pelletier‑Normand remains convinced that Sonic could eventually find a foothold on mobile devices. "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 said.
"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. The limited release was intended to gather data on player behavior and fine‑tune monetisation strategies before a broader rollout.
However, after analyzing the early metrics, Rovio decided to pull the plug on the project last month, citing the same "broader change" at the Copenhagen studio as the reason for its shutdown. The developer emphasized that the decision does not reflect a lack of passion, creativity, or effort from the team, nor does it diminish the enthusiastic response from the 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 occurs against the backdrop of Sega's acquisition of Rovio in 2023 for $776 million. Earlier this year, Sega disclosed a $200 million impairment charge related to the purchase, acknowledging that the profitability of the combined entity fell short of initial forecasts. Part of the shortfall has been attributed to difficulties integrating Rovio's Beacon technology—a location‑based service—into Sega's existing mobile titles.
Sega CEO Haruki Satomi explained that the operational and marketing approaches of Rovio differ significantly from Sega's traditional methods. "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," he said. "Consequently, we have unfortunately not achieved the level of results that had been expected prior to the acquisition." In summary, the shutdown of the Copenhagen studio underscores the challenges of merging distinct corporate cultures, technologies, and market expectations.
While Rovio and Sega continue to explore ways to bring beloved IPs like Sonic to new platforms, the experience with Sonic Blitz serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of realistic retention forecasts and the complexities of mobile game economics. The affected staff will receive support as they transition to new opportunities, and both companies have pledged to apply the lessons learned to future projects, aiming to deliver experiences that resonate with players and meet financial targets.