Material Culture and Angry Birds

The study argues that material culture remains central to digital games even as distribution has shifted toward digital-only models. Drawing on hybrid products such as Skylanders and on theories of possession and objects from Belk and Miller, it contends that dematerialization frequently generates new material practices rather than eliminating them. Its multiperspectival framework, combining ethnography, platform studies, and political economy, is presented as an outline for future inquiry rather than a fixed classification of the field.

Angry Birds serves as the central case. The game's success is traced to the touchscreen affordances of the iPhone and to roughly two billion downloads, while merchandise accounted for 45 percent of developer Rovio's 2012 revenue. Rovio's licensing strategy, including oversized plush toys and viral promotional stunts, converted fan identity into a physical extension of the game. The analysis also raises concerns about the hidden labor, environmental costs, and precarious conditions in supply chains behind such products, noting that Rovio's private status leaves its supplier commitments poorly documented. Merchandise-driven fandom has further blurred the boundaries of the game as a "source text."

The findings emphasize hybrid play. A 2012 Information Solutions Group study indicates that mobile games are played across commutes, homes, and bedrooms, with the couch the most common location. Rovio's three-pillar strategy of digital games, animation, and merchandise, along with physical-digital products such as the Mattel Apptivity toy and Hasbro Telepods, is presented as a means of reducing economic risk. The authors conclude that contemporary play is increasingly a combination of physical and digital elements, and that linked marketing logic is central to the Angry Birds phenomenon.