Angry Birds creator wants to publish ‘edutainment’ games for kids

I think it was Whitney Houston who said, “I believe the children are our future.” Now, we just need our game developers to teach them well and let them lead the way.

Angry Birds developer Rovio revealed today that is planning to expand its third-party publishing efforts to include educational games for kids, according to Pocket Gamer. Rovio will seek out developers making entertaining apps that are also informative or instructional for children 3 to 12. The Angry Birds studio will then publish those games under its Rovio Stars label. Smartphone and tablet use is growing more common among young children, according to industry intelligence firm The NPD Group. Educational apps is one way that companies can tap that market in a way that parents might approve of.

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“When kids are bored, their learning plummets,” reads a Rovio statement. “When they’re engaged, anything’s possible, so we’re looking for new game ideas to entertain kids and motivate them to learn. Games that parents can also feel good about.”

We’ve reached out to Rovio to ask if it will advertise its other, less-educational titles within these new releases. We’ll update this story with its response.

Rovio expects studios will want to work with it due to its huge reach in the app markets on Android, iOS, and other mobile operating systems. The developer boasts more than 2 billion total downloads throughout its 11-year history. It moved into third-party publishing last year, and it has helped games like Juice Cubes rack up more than 5 million downloads on iOS and Android.

At the upcoming Game Developer Conference happening in San Francisco next month, Rovio will host the Big Indie Pitch Jr. panel, where studios can explain their educational games with the hope of getting published through Rovio Stars.