Angry Birds' boss says 'piracy attracts more business'

London, Jan 31 (ANI): The chief executive of the entertainment media company behind mobile gaming phenomenon, Angry Birds, has said that piracy helps companies attract more business.

Mikael Hed, the chief executive of Rovio, said that 'piracy may not be a bad thing as it can get his company more business at the end of the day.'

Hed said that he sees any type of piracy as being helpful to the brand in attracting new fans.

"If we lose that fanbase, our business is done, but if we can grow that fanbase, our business will grow," The Guardian quoted Hed, as saying.

Rovio sees it as 'futile' to pursue pirates through the courts, except in cases where it feels the products they are selling are harmful to the Angry Birds brand, or ripping off its fans.

The head of the Finland-based company, which experienced huge success with the Angry Birds brand, admitted that they had learned from the music industry's mistakes when thinking about how to deal with piracy.

"We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products. There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products," Hed said.

"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy," he added.

According to the paper, Hed also explained that Rovio sees Angry Birds as a bona-fide 'channel' now, with people spending so much time in the app, it is competing with the most popular TV shows in the US in terms of time spent.

"Already our apps are becoming channels, and we can use that channel to cross-promote to sell further content. The content itself has transformed into the channel, and the traditional distribution channels are no longer the kingmakers," Hed said. (ANI)