Rovio vets open educational game studio Lightneer

A team of Rovio veterans have opened a new studio in Helsinki focused on developing educational games.

Called Lightneer, the studio’s formation comes after a string of layoffs at the Angry Birds developer that saw it shut down its educational division.

It’s headed by CEO Lauri Järvilehto, who worked at Rovio as its fun learning expert and evangelist, and CCO Lauri Konttori, who worked as lead game designer and creative director at the Angry Birds outfit.

It’s also backed by Rovio co-founder Niklas Hed and Rovio Mobile head Peter Vesterbacka.

The team’s ambition is to create learning games as fun to play as mobile hits such as Clash of Clans, Angry Birds and Candy Crush Saga.

“Learning games are currently in a painstakingly similar situation as mobile games were in 2007; they’re a niche product, produced quickly, often with small budgets and inexperienced game design teams,” read a statement on the Lightneer website. “We want to change this.”