Finnish mobile game developer Rovio is planning to cut up to 130 jobs, or 16 per cent of its total workforce, after its earnings suffered a drastic slump.

The developer, who created the massively successful Angry Birds game, have expanded the brand from mobile games into an animated TV series and a wealth of merchandised toys and clothing. However, despite its status as the number one paid mobile application of all time, the company has struggled to retain players, and has seen annual earnings half last year.

“We have been building our team on assumptions of faster growth than have materialized,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio in a blog post about the cut backs. “As a result, we announced today that we plan to simplify our organisation around our three key businesses with the highest growth potential: games, media, and consumer products.

“Unfortunately, we also need to consider possible employee reductions of a maximum of 130 people in Finland (approximately 16 per cent of workforce). It is never easy to consider changes like this, but it is better to do them sooner rather than later, when we are in a good place to reignite growth.”