Angry Birds Star Wars tops App Store in 2.5 hours

The force is certainly strong with Rovio, as its signature game series continues to set records

People sure do love them some Angry Birds, huh? This is one game franchise that, no matter how many variations come out, keep being incredibly popular. I’d love to find out what the secret is.

The latest Angry Bird spin-off, Angry Birds Star Wars, debuted yesterday and went to the top of the U.S. iOS App Store in only two and a half hours, a record for Angry Birds creator Rovio, the company said in a blog post Friday.

The last time the series got a new game was in March, with Angry Birds Space. It, was downloaded 10 million times in 10 days, following its launch in March. There is no telling if Angry Birds Star Wars has those kinds of legs, but it certainly seems to be doing quite well so far.

The newest game is, of course, based on the ultra-popular 1977 movie Star Wars and the familiar birds have been redesigned to look like characters from the movie: the red bird is Luke Skywalker, the yellow bird is Han Solo, and the big red bird is Chewbacca. The piggies are made to look like the bad guys from the series: Darth Vader, stormtroopers and Sand People.

Each bird has new abilities, like being able to swing a lightsaber and shooting a blaster. There is even a Mighty Eagle that looks like the Millennium Falcon.

Levels include planets and setting from the film series as well, including Tatooine, the Death Star and Dagobah. A Hoth levels will be coming soon.

Since being launched in 2009, Angry Birds has proved to be extremely popular, having been downloaded one billion times, and has spun off, not only multiple games, but a whole series of products, including toys, backpacks, t-shirts, hats and Halloween costumes.

The most recent Angry Birds product that was announced was a prepaid debit card, which Rovio partnered with prepaid product provider Kaiku Finance to bring to people in 2013.

Users will have a choice of selecting four different Angry Bird debit card designs: The Red Bird, The Yellow Bird, Bomb Bird and the Bad Piggies.

With the card, users will be able to load funds with direct deposit, PayPal, from a credit card, from a bank account, or by transfer from another Kaiku Card. They will also have access to over 50,000 surcharge-free ATMs in all 50 states, as well as Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, and the United Kingdom, free direct desposit, free apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry smartphones, free 24/7 customer service, and no inactivity fees or minimum balance requirements.

Other recent Rovio news

In July, Rovio released its follow-up to the Angry Birds franchise, called Amazing Alex, a puzzle game which follows a border character with an active imagination and excitement for puzzles. 

The game topped the iOS Apple Store charts in its first week.

It was announced in August that punk band Green Day had teamed up with Rovio to launch 10 levels for Angry Birds Friends, a Facebook version of the popular app which let people play against friends on the social network.

There are also another  new Angry Birds games on the way: 

Angry Birds Red Planet game, which was inspired by NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover.

You can see the trailers for Angry Birds Red Planet and Angry Birds Star Wars below: