Angry Birds soars past half a billion downloads

Angry Birds has become a phenomenon in the gaming space. The not-quite-two-year-old brand already has toys, books, and other merchandise bearing its name, and it has now passed another significant milestone.

Rovio announced today that the Angry Birds franchise has crossed 500,000,000 downloads. This number accounts for Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio releases across a multitude of platforms including phones, tablets, Web browsers, and computers. The developer also relayed a number of statistics about players' time with the game, with a total combined playtime of 200,000 years and 400 billion in-game bird launches.

Regarding merchandise, Rovio specified that more than 10 million Angry Birds toys have shipped worldwide, and its publishing arm has already released the first Angry Birds books. Recently acquired Finish animation studio Kombo is at work on series-related cartoons and recently put out the Halloween-themed Ham'O'Ween animation.

The publisher is even creating a new place just to sell its licensed goods. Rovio's flagship Angry Birds retail shop is set to open soon in Helsinki, Finland.