Finnish video game company Rovio, known for its hit game Angry Birds, has opened an office in Barcelona to continue developing its products. There are currently more than ten open-ended job vacancies at this new creative studio, which will work hand in hand with the headquarters in Finland.

The Nordic company believes that Barcelona is “a bustling hub of mobile gaming talent in a time zone reasonably close to Finland’s”. As Invest In Spain published in September, Catalonia, with some 120 million euros, was actually the leading region in the European Union in attracting foreign investment in the video games sector between 2017 and 2021, creating some 900 jobs along the way.

Job vacancies
The team in Barcelona and Finland — joined recently by an office in Montreal (Canada) — will work to develop games such as Dream Blast and Angry Birds Friends. Among the vacancies, jobs have opened up for new level designers, game artists and economy designers.

For Rovio studio head Andy Muesse, the opening in Barcelona “is an exciting step in our growth ambitions”. He went on to say that “having a presence in Southern Europe substantially expands our recruitment potential and gives us access to a new pool of talent. I am looking forward to new colleagues in Spain!”

Gamer experience
Matthieu Burleraux, senior director of live operations, will head the Catalan office. In his opinion, “Rovio Barcelona will maintain a strong focus on level design and live operations. Levels are fundamental to a great gamer experience in our games, and we are excited to develop strong in-house design capability, as our level designers are in charge of everything from the moment you enter a level to the victory screen, from the design mechanics to the level itself. Combined with us duplicating Live Ops, we believe we will be able to deliver timeless games that feel alive and growing for our players.

In addition to Barcelona, where it does not yet have a set location, Rovio has offices in Helsinki (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Montreal and Toronto (both in Canada).

^{Photo: Rovio
Career portal: https://www.rovio.com/careers/}