'Angry Birds Star Wars' tops App Store download rankings in record time

Rovio Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd.'s new Angry Birds Star Wars reached the top of Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store download chart within 2.5 hours of its Thursday launch, obliterating previous Rovio records.

Priced at 99 cents for the iPhone and $2.99 for the iPad, Angry Birds Star Wars owes some of its initial success to Apple: The App Store homepage prominently spotlights the title. User reviews are overwhelmingly positive as well, with 1,406 of the 1,547 ratings posted at press time awarding the game five out of five stars.

Angry Birds Star Wars--also available across operating systems including Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle Fire and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone, as well as PCs and Macs--combines fan-favorite elements from the two pop culture franchises. The game follows a group of Rebel Birds waging war on the evil Imperial Pigs, a battle encompassing 80 gameplay levels spanning from the deserts of Tatooine to the depths of outer space. Gamers can use the Force, wield lightsabers and blast Pigtroopers--fans may also train to become a Jedi Master via the Path of the Jedi in-app purchase option. Rovio and LucasFilm are also teaming on merchandise like plush toys, action figures and apparel.

Angry Birds Star Wars is the fifth installment in the main Angry Birds series, which first launched in late 2009. The franchise topped the 1 billion cumulative download mark earlier this year.

For more:
- read this Rovio blog entry

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