Angry Birds Go!

Angry Birds Go! Rovio’s ambition is to make Angry Birds bigger than Mickey Mouse. But to do that, it has to keep making games that are more popular than their predecessors. With the launch today of Angry Birds Go!, Rovio’s ability to do that will be put to the test.

After all, we all may be a little sick of the cute-and-angry fowls. The pigs are getting on our nerves too, after nearly 2 billion downloads of the previous games. Still, Espoo, Finland-based Rovio is giving it its best shot as the free-to-play Angry Birds Go! storms into app stores around the world in a simultaneous global launch.

With Rovio games, downloads aren’t a problem. But staying in the top ranks of the top-grossing games is a challenge. Right now, in the iOS app store in the U.S., Rovio doesn’t have a game in the top 50 grossing games, and Angry Birds Star Wars II has fallen to No. 96 on that list, according to market researcher App Annie. Angry Birds is No. 27 on the top paid games list, while Angry Birds Star Wars is No. 45, Angry Birds Seasons is No. 65, and Bad Piggies is No. 85.

These are not the kind of rankings that Rovio has been used to. With Angry Birds Go!, Rovio has taken its birds into three dimensions as they race through Piggy Island. The game is a downhill kart racing title akin to Nintendo’s Mario Kart. It has 50 different soapbox karts.