Head of Angry Birds Maker Rovio to Step Down

Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment Ltd. said Chief Executive Pekka Rantala is leaving the company, less than a year after taking the reins at the Finnish games developer that has struggled to refresh its lineup.

The company said Kati Levoranta, its current chief legal officer, will replace Mr. Rantala.

The leadership change comes as Rovio, and other games developers struggle to boost revenue amid a fickle, hard-to-predict consumer marketplace. On the back of its success with Angry Birds, Rovio in recent years expanded its line of businesses and revenue streams, including from licensing. An Angry Birds-themed movie is expected to be released next year.

Amid that diversification, though, it has struggled to keep consumers paying for its games. In August, the company said it was shedding about a third of its workforce in what it said was an attempt to refocus on fewer businesses.

Mr. Rantala, a former Nokia Corp. executive had also worked for a time at Oy Karl Fazer AB, a Finnish food and candy company. Rovio said he was leaving after successfully strengthening the company's focus.

The time was right to step aside "now that we have sharpened our [organizational] focus and set the table for an exciting 2016," Mr. Rantala said in a statement from Rovio.

As part of a series of other executive shifts, Rovio said former CEO and co-founder Mikael Hed, the son of the company's current chairman, would lead Rovio's media business, including its licensing business. Mr. Hed ceded the CEO role to Mr. Rantala at a time when the company was trying to refashion its revenue model for online and mobile gaming.

Wilhelm Taht will lead the company's games unit, and Rovio said it would put more operational responsibility and decision-making into these two businesses.

Mr. Rantala will stay on in the job until the end of the year, Rovio said.

Mr. Rantala's biggest challenge was to diversify Rovio away from its dependency on the Angry Birds franchise. But like other competitors, including Candy Crush-maker King Digital Entertainment PLC, Rovio struggled to repeat early success in subsequent games. Activision Blizzard Inc. agreed to buy King Digital last month.

Angry Birds was a gaming blockbuster, spawning revenue from game downloads and licensing deals—from clothing to stuffed animals. But it proved a hard act to follow with new, fresh gaming hits.

Rovio also was late to the "freemium" revenue model that helped propel competitors. The model allowed for free downloads of the game itself, but charged players for in-game options. That model boosted revenue at other game makers, like King Digital and Finland's Supercell Oy. Rovio launched Angry Birds 2 earlier this year, using the freemium model, but it never attained the popularity of the original, or that of some of the top hits from competitors.

Write to Chip Cummins at chip.cummins@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2015 12:45 ET (17:45 GMT)

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