Photo: brandon shigeta / Flickr

If you like video games, and own a smartphone – or a major home console – you’ve no doubt heard about smash hit Angry Birds. It seems the title has transcended just video gaming, and has becoming a part of pop culture, with the company announcing it has sold more than two million of its Angry Birds plush toys.

What an achievement

Peter Vesbacka, the company’s CEO, announced this colossal evening during a speech at GDC 2011 in San Francisco yesterday afternoon. With the Angry Birds plush toys only going on sale in early December, this averages out to over 650,000 sales per month!

Merchandising machine

Moreover, Rovio has announced that this is only the beginning. The developer turned toy manufacturer wants to go full-on Disney mode by turning the Angry Birds franchise into a merchandising machine. While the team didn’t reveal what would come next, we would definitely love to see an Angry Birds feature film made. The franchise sure has the characters to pull it off, and I sure feel for those pigs, who look like they’ll be getting pelted much more in the years to come.

Sit down

Do not allow the enormity of that achievement be lost on you. Sure, Facebook has 500 million users, and the Rovio game has been downloaded more than 50 million times, but we’re talking a toy here. Not since the days of Tickle Me Elmo have you heard of a plush toy selling insane numbers like that. More impressively, never have you heard of a mobile game becoming a full-fledged licensing dream the way that Angry Birds has. This is unchartered territory.

This is no overnight success

While it is easy to look at the sales success of the Angry Birds plush toys and games and think Rovio got lucky, the company had released 51 titles before their first breakout success.

Tags: toys