SEGA-owned Rovio Shuts Down Copenhagen Studio Following Cancellation of Mobile Title Sonic Blitz

Rovio Entertainment, a subsidiary under SEGA, has confirmed it will close its Copenhagenbased studio and discontinue all operations in Denmark, following the full cancellation of its Sonic-the-Hedgehogthemed mobile game Sonic Blitz.

Sonic Blitz was a hybrid mobile title combining endlessrunner gameplay with collectiblecard tactical battles. It held its softlaunch in the Philippines and Brazil back in June 2025. The game accumulated over 200,000 total downloads, with roughly 32,000 new installs recorded in June 2026. However, poor player retention metrics fell short of business requirements for a full global launch. Rovio delisted the softlaunch build in February 2026 for further iteration, before officially killing the whole project in August. Servers were shut down on August 24, making the game unplayable even for existing local installations.

Approximately 20 staff members worked on Sonic Blitz within the Copenhagen studio. As the redundancy procedure remains ongoing, Rovio cannot release the exact number of affected employees at this moment. Some team members will be reassigned to other ongoing projects inside Rovio. For those who cannot secure internal roles, the company will provide comprehensive transition packages, including professional outplacement services and wellbeing support to help them pursue new career opportunities.

Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, CEO of Rovio and COO of SEGA West, commented that the team initially believed Sonic Blitz would be a solid addition to the Sonic franchise. While early pre-launch assessments looked promising on paper, longterm player retention — the key benchmark for mobile games — failed to meet expectations. He praised the team’s hardwon achievements, yet admitted the project commercially did not work out. He also noted that expanding Sonic IP onto mobile platforms turned out far more complex than both SEGA and Rovio had anticipated.

This studio closure marks another major setback postacquisition. SEGA bought Rovio in 2023 for €706 million, aiming to boost its liveservice mobile game portfolio. Nevertheless, Rovio’s financial performance underperformed forecasts. In February 2026, SEGA booked around $200 million impairment charges related to the acquisition. SEGA executives pointed out operational and marketing strategy gaps between Rovio’s Beacon technology stack and SEGA’s existing mobile products, which hampered expected integration benefits. Moving forward, SEGA will tighten resource allocation, doubledown on core IPs including Angry Birds and Sonic, enforce stricter cost discipline, and concentrate investments on games and locations with higher market potential.

A Rovio spokesperson stated that discontinuing Copenhagen operations was an extremely difficult decision. The company fully recognizes the heavy impact on its staff, against the wider challenging landscape across the global videogame industry.