Tetris Spokesman Calls Angry Birds a Fad

Recommended Videos

Marshall Honorof

New member
Feb 16, 2011
2,200
0
0
Tetris Spokesman Calls Angry Birds a Fad


A Tetris staffer believes that Angry Birds will fly the coop while Tetris will remain block solid.

If you inhabit the planet Earth and have access to any kind of electronic device more complex than a toaster, there is a good chance that you have played either Tetris or Angry Birds. These two juggernauts of casual gaming generally coexist peacefully on smartphones and internet browsers everywhere, but Henk Rogers, managing director of The Tetris Company, does not believe it will always be so. According to the man who controls Tetris sales and merchandising, Angry Birds may be riding the popularity thermals now, but Tetris will still be around long after the flock has flown into the sunset.

The Angry Birds IP makes 40% of its revenue from merchandising. Rogers discussed this phenomenon while noting that selling Tetris swag is not easy without any recognizable characters. "Unless we come up with cute little aliens, I don't see how we're going to compete with them on the merchandising," he said. "Any time you have a character like an Angry Birds character, the games that have those as their central theme, they become popular and then they go away." According to Rogers, the fact that Tetris has captivated millions of players over the course of a quarter-century is a testament to both its quality and its position in modern pop culture. "I think once people have played it more than 20 or 25 years you can say it's here to stay ... it's no longer a fad. Angry Birds is cute and everybody plays it for a while but they get burned out and move on and they will play another game."

Rogers is right to assert that Angry Birds, despite its massive popularity, has yet to stand the test of time. However, suggesting that identifiable characters make a franchise ephemeral is a somewhat baffling statement. Series like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear, and Monkey Island have managed to stay both relevant and profitable for over two decades, and they share characters just as much as gameplay mechanics. As for the future, Tetris certainly has history on its side, but if there's one thing the cast of Angry Birds is good at, it's knocking down blocks.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/tetris-re-imagined-once-again-a-hit/]


Permalink
 

RA92

New member
Jan 1, 2011
3,079
0
0
AndyFromMonday said:
Who the hell actually plays Tetris anymore?
*Raises hand sheepishly*

Well, umm, the colored ones are intersting... >.>
 

weirdee

Swamp Weather Balloon Gas
Apr 11, 2011
2,634
0
0
They don't need any characters. Just slap a few of those shapes on a shirt and EVERYBODY will understand what it's referring to.
 

FamoFunk

Dad, I'm in space.
Mar 10, 2010
2,628
0
0
AndyFromMonday said:
Who the hell actually plays Tetris anymore?
Me me! It's awesome.


I agree with this guy, it is a fad. But I may be saying this just because I feel like one of very few people who never did enjoy Angry Birds, at all.

Tetris is a classic, but I can't see AB being a classic like it, or 'improving' or changing in different ways.
 

Formica Archonis

Anonymous Source
Nov 13, 2009
2,312
0
0
Marshall Honorof said:
Rogers discussed this phenomenon while noting that selling Tetris swag is not easy without any recognizable characters.
What? The S and Z blocks are freakin' adorable.

That said, I don't think I'll equate Angry Birds to Tetris as a gaming institution until I see someone flawlessly playing Angry Birds at high speed after only having a half-second to look at the structure and the birds he's firing.

(If the first five minutes don't impress, watch the last minute and a half.)
 

scorptatious

The Resident Team ICO Fanboy
May 14, 2009
7,405
0
0
AndyFromMonday said:
Who the hell actually plays Tetris anymore?
Oh you'd be surprised.;)

As for what I think of Angry Birds being a "fad". I think it's a good game on it's own merits. There's tons of content within that game at the price of only 99 cents. With free updates no less. (Minus the Seasons app, which you have to buy separately.)

Whether it does stand the test of time is yet to come though.
Chemical Horse said:
He calls it a fad, I call it an overrated piece of crap that's a knockoff of far superior flash games.
I hear this criticism about Angry Birds a lot and to me, it doesn't hold a lot of weight. That's like saying Halo is a knockoff of Half Life. Or Sonic is a knock off of Mario.
 

Phlakes

Elite Member
Mar 25, 2010
4,282
0
41
Of course it's a fad. That's how Facebook/iPhone games work. Sooner or later all those people will move on to whatever game gets popular next.
 

Epona

Elite Member
Jun 24, 2011
4,221
0
41
Country
United States
Tetris has stood the test of time so there is no doubt that it is not simply a fad. Angry Birds though, I believe it is a fad and will soon pass.
I have spent countless hours with Tetris over the years and became bored with Angry Birds within an hour.
 

Epona

Elite Member
Jun 24, 2011
4,221
0
41
Country
United States
usmarine4160 said:
I think that Angry Birds can compete with Tetris if people are still playing it in 20 years.
Uh ok. Isn't that like saying the grass is green if it's green?
 

Magnalian

New member
Dec 10, 2009
969
0
0
Angry Birds could certainly turn out to be another fad, but I'm not so sure it will. Besides, they said the same thing about Pokémon back in the day and that's still going strong. (yes I know the two can't really be compared but it's Christams Eve and I don't feel like making compelling or even sensible arguments. Happy Holidays everybody!)
Crono1973 said:
Tetris has stood the test of time so there is no doubt that it is not simply a fad. Angry Birds though, I believe it is a fad and will soon pass.
I have spent countless hours with Tetris over the years and became bored with Angry Birds within an hour.
Well, Angry Birds is not really the kind of game to be played for a consecutive hour, it's more suited to smaller sessions.
 

Epona

Elite Member
Jun 24, 2011
4,221
0
41
Country
United States
Magnalian said:
Angry Birds could certainly turn out to be another fad, but I'm not so sure it will. Besides, they said the same thing about Pokémon back in the day and that's still going strong. (yes I know the two can't really be compared but it's Christams Eve and I don't feel like making compelling or even sensible arguments. Happy Holidays everybody!)
Crono1973 said:
Tetris has stood the test of time so there is no doubt that it is not simply a fad. Angry Birds though, I believe it is a fad and will soon pass.
I have spent countless hours with Tetris over the years and became bored with Angry Birds within an hour.
Well, Angry Birds is not really the kind of game to be played for a consecutive hour, it's more suited to smaller sessions.
LOL, Angry Birds isn't the kind of game to be played for an hour, ever! Sorry, couldn't resist.

I never heard the Pokemon is a fad argument but it's a JRPG and back when Pokemon came out, they were all the rage.
 

Braedan

New member
Sep 14, 2010
697
0
0
I just want to know how these people get the platform to say these meaningless, unimportant things. In interviews? Press releases?
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
4,419
0
0
Magnalian said:
Well, Angry Birds is not really the kind of game to be played for a consecutive hour, it's more suited to smaller sessions.
Well if you wanted to play a game for something like a 20 minuite train journey, there are probably better options for iOS and easily way better options for any handheld console.

EDIT: Somehow got the quote-tee wrong.
 

I-Protest-I

New member
Nov 7, 2009
267
0
0
"I think once people have played it more than 20 or 25 years" guy says nothing definitive, stop guessing.