Rovio Entertainment, in cooperation with leading Singapore telco SingTel, worked with Uplause Ltd. to engage 50,000 Formula 1 Grand Prix fans as live controllers in a gigantic game of Angry Birds on Sunday. The event was the first in an ongoing partnership between Rovio and Uplause that will audiences into the joystick at large events around the world.
Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle and chief marketing officer of Rovio, said, “We think this new form of gaming will give fans a great opportunity to form a strong emotional connection with the characters.”
It certainly gives people plenty of opportunity to shout at the jumbo screens, because crowds aim, cock and fire the bird-loaded slingshot at the evil egg-stealing pigs with the power of their collective voices. The louder the noise, the further the birds fly.
Uplause is a Helsinki-based startup founded in 2009 to develop and market what it calls the world’s first crowd gaming system. Its other interactive games have already been played at over 250 live events globally, where they were experienced by about 3 million people.
Rovio’s Angry Birds has been downloaded at least 350 million times, and the intellectual property has expanded to toys, clothing, a movie treatment and more.
Related links:
Rovio blog – http://tinyurl.com/6fttstv
Formula1Blog – http://tinyurl.com/5s9vsdl
Fan video from the event. The game itself starts about at about 3:30
