That Time Angry Birds Was Considered the Next Super Mario Bros

Angry Birds was a massive hit when it initially launched on mobile app stores back in 2009 and into 2010. For a time, it was the hottest game around. So much so that even merchandise, spinoffs, sequels, and even a couple movies, including a third one releasing this year spawned from the series. There was even a time when experts predicted that Angry Birds was the next Super Mario Bros, which was a bold statement, but it was shared with genuineness.

Well, we are in 2023 now, and it is time for a new That Time! This is that time Angry Birds was considered the next Super Mario Bros!

Angry Birds released on mobile devices in December of 2009, and it was almost an instant success. To date, the games have been downloaded over 3 billion times, making the series a one of the most popular in mobile gaming’s short history. The concept is simple: angry birds are mad at silly pigs who are stealing their eggs, but because they can’t fly, they use a slingshot to launch themselves into poor structures built by the pigs to protect themselves.

The original game was an unexpected hit, and it shot to the top of the charts quickly. For a time, it was one of the most talked about games, and it was a series that was being intertwined with pop culture regularly.

Rovio Entertainment created something special, but there is no way they were ready for just how special their creation was at the time. Angry Birds went on to spawn tons of merchandise and spinoffs, but Rovio Entertainment created 51 games prior to the major success, going from making much of nothing to a series that is worth over a billion dollars today.

Angry Birds saw so much success that analysts were beginning to make bold claims about the future of gaming, the impending death of consoles, and how the Angry Birds series would essentially become the next Super Mario Bros, according to The Wire in 2011.

Well, here we are in 2023, and Angry Birds is still doing quite well. The series as a whole pools in about 200 million dollars annually, and with a third movie launching this year, one can assume that the series still has a decent future in front of it. However, we need to touch up on some of those bold claims from over ten years ago. The future of gaming? Mostly the same. The impending death of consoles? Umm, the Switch is one of the hottest selling pieces of hardware on the market today. And Angry Birds becoming the next Super Mario Bros? Not quite, although the series has obviously made a name for itself.

To put it into perspective, the Super Mario Bros series has been around since 1985 and has sold over 400 million units to date across just the mainline series. Considering that Super Mario Bros games are typically priced between $40-$60 USD, we are looking at at least $20 billion in revenue just from the mainline games. That’s not counting Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Mario Party, Paper Mario, Luigi’s Mansion, Yoshi’s Island, and many others that skyrocket that number even higher. Not only that, but Super Mario Bros merchandise has always been a hot sell, and with the new Super Mario Bros movie coming out soon, the series has never been hotter, which is really saying something.

Although the estimates from industry experts back then predicted that Angry Birds would be the next Super Mario Bros, they failed to remember just how much staying power the Super Mario Bros series has. That does not mean that the Angry Birds series is a failure, by any stretch, but it never needed to be the next anything.

Interestingly, Angry Birds was and still is simply Angry Birds. It is its own entity, it has entertained millions and millions of people, and it has provided an insane amount of merchandise and spin-offs to keep fans happy for years.

It may not be the next Super Mario Bros, but it never needed to be. It is doing fine on its own, and it is still one of the most successful mobile stories to date.

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Thank you for stopping by Nintendo Link and enjoying this “That Time” article. What do you think about industry experts back then claiming Angry Birds was the next Super Mario Bros? Are you surprised? Let us know what you think in the comments below! Happy gaming, everyone.