Angry Birds dev stays indie as publisher is bought

EA has confirmed that it has acquired the iPhone publisher Chillingo in a deal thought, but not confirmed, to be worth around $20 million.

As Chillingo was the UK publisher of iPhone phenomenon Angry Birds, it was initially assumed in various news reports that Electronic Arts sought to acquire the bird-meets-slingshot game’s developer, Rovio, as well as its IP.

That assumption was swiftly refuted by Rovio, which, in a statement on its official Twitter account, was unambiguous: “We own Angry Birds and all the rights," the studio said.

The suggested, and unconfirmed, acquisition price of $20 million snaps out of current trends in social studio acquisition prices.

In the last two years Disney bought Playdom for $763 million, DeNA’s acquired Ngmoco for $400 million, and EA sealed Playfish in a deal worth at least $300 million.