Having sold millions of copies of their fowls vs. sows catapult game, Angry Birds, developer Rovio is experiencing such success that they’re even starting to begrudge Apple their thirty percent cut off the top of in-app purchases.
Rovio has just announced that they intend on launching Bad Piggy Bank, a new in-game payment system which will allow Angry Birds customers to make in-app purchases without going through Apple.
It’s more than just money grubbing, though. Rovio’s goal is to divorce Angry Birds in-app purchase system from a reliance upon a credit card. Bad Piggy Bank, then, will launch in Finland (where Rovio is based) on Elisa, the country’s biggest telecom provider, and any in-app purchases will be added to their monthly bill, or even purchase other games, with other countries and telecoms to follow.
The idea isn’t just to bill directly to the service provider: it’s also to compete with the likes of Apple and OpenFeint when it comes to billing for micro-transactions. As such, Rovio intends to bring the Bad Piggy Bank to other games, and will even be offering better rates than Apple’s traditional 70/30 split.
