Rovio’s decline after SEGA: layoffs, politics, and lost direction - Anonymous employee Rovio Entertainment Employee Review

Rovio has fallen from grace, and the decline accelerated after the SEGA acquisition. Since then, the company has gone through what feels like constant restructuring, with reporting lines changing every few months and teams repeatedly being reshuffled without any clear long-term direction. You can also expect frequent layoffs. In 2025 alone, there were at least four redundancy rounds or change negotiations. Some of the more recent ones were kept quiet and have not been picked up by the press. Employees are left scared and uncertain while HR repeats the usual lines about “supporting affected colleagues.” To be clear: if you work there, the likelihood of being affected is very high. I have seen the same person go through three or more change negotiations, which is the Finnish layoff process. Leadership has become increasingly political. In marketing especially, there is a strong sense that personal loyalty matters more than competence. Certain people are brought in or protected because they are liked by senior leadership, even when their behavior is questionable or toxic. HR rarely seems willing or able to step in when these people are involved. More broadly, many Directors and above appear to be looking out for themselves, hiring people who support their agenda rather than people who challenge them or improve the company. SEGA now appears to call the shots from the top down, often overriding or ignoring whatever company strategy Rovio leadership presents internally. Rovio leadership either cannot or will not push back, and anyone who does seems replaceable. The CEO moving to London, away from the two main offices in Finland and Sweden, says a lot about the current state of the company. Rovio also has a strange obsession with hiring Leads and Directors. The result is a company full of very senior, often underpaid people with no team, or maybe one direct report. This makes career progression almost impossible. It also creates a culture where some senior people see themselves as too important for the actual day-to-day work, so the burden falls on the few intermediate employees, who end up overworked and burned out. The company talks a lot about merit, but promotions and raises are often driven by relationships rather than results. I say that as someone who had to fight hard for every promotion and raise over the years. It is possible to progress, but it is very clear that others progress much faster by being friends with the right people. Speaking up is encouraged on paper. In reality, being bold or challenging weak leadership gets you labeled as problematic. I have seen people called difficult simply for standing up to bullies or calling out poor decisions. Rovio also continues to promise bonuses while changing the bonus system almost every year, only for bonuses not to be paid anyway because the company has been underperforming financially since at least 2023. Overall, Rovio has not released a truly successful new game in years. Revenue appears to be struggling, layoffs have become routine, PR tries to keep the worst of it quiet, and nepotism and internal politics are everywhere. Leadership now feels like a circus of puppets controlled by SEGA, and it would not surprise me if the company is eventually reduced to little more than a brand asset within the next year or two. Once a beloved Finnish games company, Rovio now feels unstable, political, under-led, and deeply demoralizing. There are still good people there, but they are increasingly exhausted, scared, or leaving.