In fact, he won't even sue unless he thinks an unlicensed product is harming their brand or really hurting their fans:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2012/jan/30/angry-birds-music-midem

Favorite quote: "Hed explained that Rovio sees it as "futile" to pursue pirates through the courts, except in cases where it feels the products they are selling are harmful to the Angry Birds brand, or ripping off its fans."

So yes, he thinks suing does far more harm than good (shocker there) and that the unlicensed products do increase his fan base as do the pirated copies. It's hard to quibble with him or convince him he's losing massive cash when in fact Rovio makes fat piles of cash to roll around in on a daily basis.

Obviously a mad heretic that must be assimilated into the SOPA/PIPA/ACTA collective.

*silent victory dance*

I might just lose my mind for 5 minutes & buy the damn game!!

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.

Awesome. Now he just needs to start making games I'm interested in :P

It's easier to say so if you make games with 5$ budget. ;)

True fact - his product is pretty much worthless, it relies upon massive sales figures globally to provide income. He can afford the odd pirate here and there, plus saying statements like this is all about marketing in itself. Saying extreme things gets you noticed - and when you get noticed you get clicks - more interest and more possible buyers viewing your site and statements.

When did GOG become the new Pirate Bay?
We're SUPPORTING piracy here now? Is that the "cool thing" to do?

All the cool kids are doing it ;)

The only thing the article tells me is that they'll just gonna shove more ads into the game. That's when pirates actually become useful as to boost statistics like DAU to sell ad space to potential advertisers.

I wouldn't call the brand itself worthless. Birds does have a pretty good momentum at the moment and the sales strategy in mobile games is very different from average console/pc game.

sure, it can die out as quickly as it was born, but at this moment, the brand is not worthless.

Actually Angry Birds is one of the most selled mobile games...so I guess Rovio is not that worthless ;)

Actually, it isn't that new. As always, the music "industry" (well, musicians actually) were the first to go down this road.

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/trent-reznors-free-album-becomes-amazons-bestseller-2008

and from 2002(!)

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/wilco-yankee

And whoever can tell me how I convieniently came up with those links, get's a cookie. ;-)

Trying to fight piracy using tactical nukes is one thing, but basically endorsing or even embracing it might lead to the same kind of damage. Remember that many people buy games because it's the 'right thing to do,' and as soon as piracy becomes right as well... Doesn't sound good
You pulled them out your ass.