Angry Birds Space lands as franchise nears a billion downloads

A new installment to the all-time bestselling series of apps has landed today, with the iconic Angry Birds catapulted into space.

The new Space game has retained the classic Angry Birds gameplay but turns the franchise on its head with 60 fresh levels and a number of new features. Close to a billion Angry Birds apps have been downloaded in total, turning Rovio Entertainment into a gaming behemoth worth a reported £5.6bn ($9bn).

The newest installment is available on iPhone for 69p, with an HD version for the iPad also released for £1.99. Initially Android users can play the game for free, although that comes with in-game adverts. Rovio has said that an ad-free Android version will follow.

"This is Rovio at its finest, and we are more than excited to bring Angry Birds Space to all our fans worldwide,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio.

“This launch marks a huge step for us as a company, and our whole team and partners have really pulled together to bring out a fantastic array of exciting products and experiences,” he said. “We hope that our fans will find all things Angry Birds Space as delightful as the Rovio family does”.

Finnish-based Rovio has already begun to explore the vast possibilities of the franchise after announcing they will create a number of Angry Birds-themed activity parks across the UK in collaboration with playground maker Lappset Group.

Rovio is even setting their sights on toppling gaming icons like Mario and Sonic, with marketing head Peter Vesterbacka telling Reuters: "We want to make Angry Birds a permanent part of pop culture. We're just getting started”.