Piracy can lead to more business, claims Angry Birds dev

Helps to grow brand awareness and demand for related products.

Rovio Mobile, creator of the Angry Birds franchise, believes that piracy shouldn't be viewed in black and white terms - it can prove useful to grow consumer awareness of a brand.

"Rovio has some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products," Rovio CEO Mikael Hed explained at the Midem conference in Cannes this morning.

"There are tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products."

The solution isn't always to come down on pirates with legal action.

"We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans," he said.

"We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have. If we lose that fan base, our business is done, but if we can grow that fan base, our business will grow."

Piracy deemed harmful to the Angry Birds brand will be tackled through the courts, but as a general rule, Rovio isn't overly concerned by an illegal download.

"Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day," Hed concluded.

Via Guardian