Rovio ‘has no plans to leave Finland’

Rovio will keep its headquarters in Finland despite recently hinting at a move to Ireland, the studio’s VP of franchise development has said.

Speaking to Edge, Ville Heijari said that reports linking the developer with a move to Dublin due to greater tax incentives were taken out of context, and the Angry Birds developer had no plans to relocate its offices.

"The story was rather unfortunately taken out of context from a purely speculative conversation," said Heijari.

"We’ve had contact from Irish authorities regarding international business opportunities, as has presumably every other company in our business.

"However, our HQ is staying in Finland, and there are no plans to move anywhere."

The studio’s CEO Mikael Hed said last week that Rovio was considering moving to Dublin due to the country’s generous low tax rate, which currently sits at 12.5 per cent, compared to Finland’s 24.5 per cent rate.

“The Irish authorities have been very active and we have been promoting that,” said Hed.

“We are considering it. It is something that we need to look at. For now we have stayed in Finland. But it is on top of our minds.

“If we did make that decision then it would be a natural thing to do to have some production in Ireland also."