Rovio said that Stars can introduce third-party developers’ games to “a massive audience while supporting you with world-class marketing and PR”. “Our post-production services and extensive know-how take your game to all the relevant app stores, while our expert game teams can mentor you on fine-tuning your game and turning it into a blockbuster,” it added. Rovio said it is looking for games that appeal to all ages and are already in an advanced stage of production (already in alpha or playable format). The first game to be published under the programme will be Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage by Nitrome, followed by 2D puzzle game Tiny Thief by 5 Ants (which was first reported to be joining Rovio in January).

“Rovio Entertainment has positioned itself as one of the powerhouses of mobile entertainment, so moving into publishing is a logical step for us at this point”, said Rovio’s EVP of games Jami Laes. “We want to help our fans find quality entertainment among the more than 100,000 games available in app stores. That’s where Rovio Stars comes in.”

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Everyplay said that gamers have already embraced their service, sharing around 1.5 replays from Bad Piggies every minute on the Everyplay social network. Jussi Laakkonen, founder and CEO of Everyplay parent company Applifier, added that more than 50 games in total now integrate Everyplay, just six months after launch, with more than 100,000 replays already shared.

Everyplay also announced that its FaceCam feature, which allows player to add video and audio commentary to game replays, is going on general release.

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Now Rovio is changing that with a new feature called Rovio Account, which made its global debut in the company’s official game for movie The Croods, and is also available in the original Angry Birds game on iOS in Finland and Poland.

“Our fans have been asking for a way to play their game on different phones or tablets without losing their progress when changing the device. This is exactly what Rovio Account lets you do,” explains Rovio in a blog post.

“We will gradually introduce Rovio Account into more areas in the future and also add new features.”

It will be a welcome feature for players. Apple’s iCloud is the usual method for such synchronisation on iOS, but doesn’t support other platforms (and even on iOS, it has a few problems).

Some developers have also experimented with Dropbox as a way to synchronise players’ scores and progress across different platforms.

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Angry Birds Friends was launched in February 2012 as a collaboration between Facebook and Rovio. It has since picked up 60m installs and has 15m monthly active users, according to Facebook.

News that Friends would be coming to mobile first surfaced earlier this month, after being announced during a Facebook mobile event in Helsinki. However, Rovio has now confirmed it via its official Angry Birds Twitter account @AngryBirds.

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Laes joins from EA’s Playfish social games division, where he’d worked as VP of global studios since August 2011.

His mobile games career started off at Finnish developer Sumea in April 2004, including roles as global VP of studios at Digital Chocolate, which acquired Sumea in February 2007.

That means Laes goes back a long way with Sumea’s co-founder Ilkka Paananen, who nowadays is heading up Supercell – the Finnish firm whose $2.4m -a-day success is currently giving Rovio something to think about.

“I have always been a huge fan of Angry Birds and it has been great to see the phenomenal success that Rovio has already achieved,” says Laes in a statement.

“Even so, we’ve only seen a fraction of what can be achieved with great brands like Angry Birds and Bad Piggies and I wanted to be a part of building that story.”

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The Angry Birds games attracted 263m monthly active players in December 2012, while the franchise went on to pass 1.7bn total downloads by March 2013.

Rovio says that 45% of its 2012 revenues came from its consumer products division, up from 30% in 2011. That means sales of Angry Birds merchandise and other spin-offs more than tripled to €68.5m last year.

“Rovio has grown from a phenomenon to a very successful global business. In 2010 we set out to build an entertainment company and after last years performance we are on a strong path to achieve our goal,” said chief executive Mikael Hed in a statement.

“We will continue to strengthen our position in the entertainment business through continuing to innovate on our existing brands, exploring creating new IP as well as exploring opportunities with external parties.”

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The game looks polished, but its use of in-app purchases could be a problem-in-waiting for Rovio. The in-game store sells virtual coins and crystals in quantities costing between £2.99 and £39.99.

It may not reach the heights of the £69.99 IAP tiers in other children’s games like Playmobil Pirates, Temple Run: Oz and National Geographic’s Dino Land, but Rovio needs to be cautious.

Why? Because ‘Kids blow £x on in-app purchases’ is something that’s firmly on the mainstream media radar in 2013. For example, two recent stories on news juggernaut MailOnline: one about a child spending £1,700 in Zombies vs Ninja, and another on a boy spending £1,000 in The Simpsons: Tapped Out.

‘Angry Birds maker pimping 40-quid virtual items in children’s movie game’? Now may not be the best time to be risking such coverage, especially for Rovio, which has a big fanbase among children for Angry Birds.

Note, I’m not saying here that Rovio is trying to rip children off with the IAP in The Croods – as a parent I’m personally uncomfortable with such a high tier, but then it’s my decision whether to let my kids play the game.

The issue here is one of perception, though, and the risks to a brand like Angry Birds of being associated with high-tier in-app purchases in the current media climate – however indirectly.

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The app, which ties into forthcoming DreamWorks film The Croods, allows users to upload a picture to be “Crood-ified”, with users able to choose skin tone, hair colour and background pic. The results can then be shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As previously reported, DreamWorks has also teamed up with Rovio to create a mobile game based around The Croods. That game went live on the app stores for iOS and Android today.

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An update to all existing Angry Birds games and apps will install a button on their homescreen for people to access the Angry Birds Toons channel, with Rovio planning to release 52 episodes – one a week over the next year.

Rovio also announced yesterday that the Angry Birds games are now past the 1.7bn downloads mark, buoyed by the company’s decision to make the original Angry Birds game free to download on iOS last week.

Angry Birds Toons won’t only be distributed through Rovio’s apps. They’ll also be available through Comcast’s video-on-demand services in the US, through Samsung’s smart TVs globally – the result of a previous deal between Rovio and Samsung – and aired on traditional TV networks in Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Finland, Israel, France, Germany, Norway, Chile and Brazil.

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Rovio hasn’t spoken about the decision, which is presumably intended to boost downloads of a game that is fairly late in its life cycle, as well as to drive in-app purchases. However, it comes a few days after observers noted that Rovio had no games in the top 80 highest-grossing iPhone apps for the first time since May 2010, and in advance of the launch of the Angry Birds Toons animated series later this month.

Rovio has also added 15 new levels to the game with the update.

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