Report: 'Angry Birds' to invade Starbucks soon

"Angry Birds," the immensely popular game, is coming to Starbucks via in-store promotions and possible leader boards to encourage gamers. Wibe Wagemans, a senior vice president of Rovio Entertainment, said they are in discussions with Starbucks about in-store promotions, according to a Bloomberg report. "It’s tying in the real world with the virtual world. Retailers get new customers who’ve not been to their stores yet, and repeat customers," he said in the report. The Bloomberg report said Rovio is considering offering virtual goods and setting up electronic leader boards in stores to tout top-scoring "Angry Birds" players. But the Bloomberg report said Starbucks, the world’s biggest operator of coffee shops, declined to comment on the talks with Rovio. "While we are always looking for great partnerships to better meet the needs of our customers, at this time we have no announcements regarding any work with Rovio Entertainment," Bloomberg quoted it as saying in an e-mailed statement. "Angry Birds," which started out on smartphones and mobile devices, involves launching birds with various properties at pigs in fortifications. Rovio is trying to convert its success into a real-world empire via books, stuffed animals, T-shirts and other merchandise. Wagemans said leader boards encourage customers to play "Angry Birds" on their devices at the store, so they can see their scores spotlighted. Bloomberg quoted Wagemans as saying Rovio, which offers merchandise on its website, already sells one million stuffed animals a month. Rovio also raised $42 million in funding in March, and has held talks about another investment that would value Rovio at about $1.2 billion, people familiar with the matter said last month. Rovio began running "Angry Birds" leader-board promotions at Barnes & Noble Inc.’s U.S. locations this year. It also sells merchandise through the bookstore chain, as well as Toys “R" Us Inc. "Angry Birds" is now looking for a share of the social-networking games market dominated by Zynga Inc. Wagemans said Rovio presently has a game for the Google+ service, and a version for Facebook Inc. is underway. — RSJ, GMA News