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Rovio sees revenue leap 94% in second quarter

Angry Birds Evolution and Battle Bay showed the "strongest launch ARPDAU and other KPIs ever seen in Rovio Games business unit"

Rovio Entertainment has reported Q2 revenue of €86.2 million, almost double the amount it earned in the same quarter last year.

The main drivers of that growth were its core games, including Battle Bay and Angry Birds Evolution, and The Angry Birds Movie, with the Finnish outfit reporting growth across its two distinct divisions.

The Games unit at Rovio saw a 65% increase in revenue to €61.3 million, thanks to a 30% leap in monthly paying users and a 51% gain in revenue per monthly paying user. The revenue of Rovio's Brand Licensing business unit, meanwhile, enjoyed growth of 242.6% to €24.9 million, demonstrating the potential in merchandising and partnering within and beyond games.

"The second quarter of 2017 evidenced true delivery of our Games-First strategy with very strong growth in revenues and profits," said Rovio CEO Kati Levoranta. "During the second quarter, we also finalised Rovio's restructuring and moved towards a licensing model of lower operating and capital expenses in the consumer products and animated content businesses.

"The benefits of these structural changes, however, have not yet been reflected in the strong financial performance we achieved in the first half of 2017.

"Our current top games continued to improve their key KPIs, enabling us to invest in growth and new games with high confidence. Rovio's latest games, Battle Bay and Angry Birds Evolution, were launched in Q2 with the strongest launch ARPDAU and other KPIs ever seen in Rovio Games business unit."

This string financial performance follows recent speculation that Rovio is looking to raise $400 million through a local IPO; a sum that would list the company's current value at $2 billion.

Previously, Tencent had been rumoured to be acquiring Rovio, and while that hasn't yet happened, the Finnish confirmed to its shareholders that it will "regularly assess different alternatives to further develop Rovio," going on to suggest the possibility of an IPO, "at some point in the future."