EA nabs Angry Birds publisher for a cool $20 million

So you put a couple games on the iPhone App Store that happen to have attracted 10 million gamers, and suddenly people get very interested in you. Go figure.

Publishing giant EA has finalized a deal to buy Chillingo, the company that published Angry Birds.

Above: Angry Birds, a game where you fling angry birds at stuff

Chillingo has accepted an offer that's being tossed around inmedia reports as $20 million in cash. That's not bad for a start-up, but you have to wonder how much this company could have grown on its own. In just a matter of weeks it's earned nearly $10 million in revenue and managed to slippast tens of thousands of other iPhonepublishers to emerge as the top dog.

In addition to striking gold with Angry Birds, Chillingo also brought another captivating puzzle game, Cut the Rope, to the top of the iPhone sales charts. When it proved it wasn't just a one-trick pony, EA stepped in.

Above: Cut the Rope, a game where you cut ropes and stuff

However, Rovio, the actual developer of Angry Birds, has been quick to say this deal doesn't directly affect the crazy bird-slinging game. In a Twitter post, the developer wrote, "We have not sold out. We have not sold to EA. We are Rovio. We own Angry Birds." Whew. Everyone can relax. Well, except for those green pigs that are terrorized in Angry Birds.

Chillingo is a separate company that only publicized and distributed the game. Rovio is actually the one that created and owns the rights to Angry Birds. The Chillingo deal won't change that in any way.

[Source:Tech Crunch]

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