Rovio drops Moomins: Puzzle & Design game

• Moomin: Puzzle & Design is shuttering after two years of soft-launch
• It was developed by Rovio, who were recently acquired by Sega
• Is the Angry Birds developer now more focused on translating Sega to mobile?

Rovio has dropped development of their planned Moomin: Puzzle & Design game after two years of soft-launch. Development ended as of 11th April and the servers are set to permanently shutter on July 8th. That’s the reporting from our sister-site over at PocketGamer.biz.

And if you’re not familiar with them, Moomin (or The Moomins) is the franchise created by famed Finnish comic artist Tove Jansson. These cute elephant…rat…things are a pop-culture sensation in Finland and have had comics, merchandise, films and yes, video games like Snuffkin: Melody of Moominvalley which released last year.

Rovio refocus?

We all know Rovio from games like Angry Birds, but you may not recall that the studio was purchased by Sega last year. It was a pretty major event for a company that’s traditionally been very insular and independent, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. They’ve already announced that Rovio will be working closely on translating Sega properties to mobile, so that may be one reason why Moomin: Puzzle & Design went on the chopping block.

For Moomin fans it’ll be a definite disappointment as this promising game goes the way of the Dodo. But we can at least be hopeful in the fact that Rovio are clearly refocusing elsewhere. A lot of good, or at least potentially good, games don’t often get the space they deserve to grow, so it’s a shame to see Moomin: Puzzle & Design drop off the face of the earth like this.

But even with the cessation of development on Moomin: Puzzle & Design this year is still stacked with upcoming releases. Want to keep up with all of them? Then check in on our list of the best upcoming mobile games of 2024.

And if you’re looking for a more open puzzle experience, something like Wildfrost, a new roguelike deck-builder, might be your thing!