Rovio officially announces new Angry Birds Fight! match-three battle game

Although it’s been in soft-launch mode for over two months, the latest game in the Angry Birds franchise has just now been officially announced by Rovio.

Angry Birds Fight!, as the game is called, is touted by Rovio as the “very first cultural mash-up” in the Angry Birds series. And judging by the two teaser trailers that have just been released for the game, one of the cultures that Angry Birds Fight is tapping into is that of Japan.

One of the teasers is a short music video featuring the Japanese pop dance group Tempura Kidz. Check it out:

If you can’t see the video embedded above, please click here.

The other teaser features three sumo wrestlers, hinting at the Angry Birds Fight’s being a match-three title rather than, as it name may suggest, a fighting game (let alone an Injustice-like game with Angry Birds characters, sigh). Take a look:

If you can’t see the video embedded above, please click here.

Indeed, as described on the App Store in countries where it has been soft-launched (including Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand), Angry Birds Fight is a free-to-play “match-3 frenzy where you take on other players in real-time battles of strategic, bird swapping agility!”

Angry Birds Fight!

Angry Birds Fight is scheduled to officially take flight later this spring.

The official announcement of Angry Birds Fight follows the launch of the bubble-shooting Angry Birds Stella Pop!, which was officially released about a month ago.

It’s good that Rovio is branching out into game genres outside the bird-slinging and pig-popping affair for which the Angry Birds series is largely known, especially as it combats franchise fatigue amid declining revenue.

But it would probably be better if Rovio would take more risks with more innovative titles instead of playing it safe with games that essentially put Angry Birds characters and themes on tried-and-tested (not to mention lucrative) genres.