Angry Birds Clears Half A Billion Downloads

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One thing is for certain, folks: Angry Birds is popular. And with that blinding flash of the obvious, it’s now time to get into the meat of the news here, as we discover that the Angry Birds franchise is sufficiently popular to have generated over half a billion downloads to date. But as it turns out, the crew out at Rovio isn’t stopping there…they’ve got some plans for the lineup, from new merchandising to print matter and beyond.

It’s worth noting that it’s not just Angry Birds fueling those numbers, but also Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio that are thrown into that mix. But considering they all play roughly the same way featuring mostly the same characters (Angry Birds Rio is a bit of a departure in that pigs are really not involved), it’s safe to lump them in. And considering that we were just talking about Angry Birds clearing the 200 million download mark last May, it’s a pretty big advance for them indeed.

And they’ve got some big plans for the future, too, with merchandise shops going in in Helsinki and China, and fully ten million pieces of merchandise having already shipped. They’ve even got a line of print books going up around the troubled avians, and that Chinese merchandise store is projected to bring in fully $100 million for Rovio just in terms of merchandise sold at that one store.

Now, where are they going to go from here? Well, with the merchandise pulling in nine figure sums–at least, projected to–and three games to their credit so far, Rovio could go most anywhere they like. In fact, one would wonder if they’re going to do anything but Angry Birds, and while information on their future plans is somewhat short on the ground right now, they have to be looking at something to come when the birds lose their impact.

So what do you guys think here? Is Rovio going to try to branch out from Angry Birds? Or will the birds dominate their plans for the foreseeable future? Either way, we want to hear from you, so head on down to the comments section below and tell us what you think!