Bad Piggies shoots to No 1 in App Store three hours after release

28 Sep 2012

Just over three hours after it launched in the US, Rovio’s Angry Birds spin-off Bad Piggies reached the top spot in the iTunes App Store, with a launch that could rival the success of the kamikaze birds.

Rovio’s ‘bird whisperer’, Ville Heijari, took to Twitter yesterday to reveal that it took Bad Piggies just over 180 minutes to reach No 1 in the US App Store, to which the slightly illiterate pigs responded, “Cudnt hav dun it wivout u sir.”

Bad Piggies has also reached No 1 in the Irish App Store charts, having gone on sale yesterday for €0.79. The new game brings its focus to the birds’ enemies, as players help the green pigs build flying contraptions to help them steal eggs.

The new game has fuelled the Rovio rivalry between bird and pig. The bad piggies dubbed yesterday #WorldPiggyDay on Twitter, asking users to pledge their allegiance with the hashtag #WeAreTeamGreen to win a chance to play the game a day earlier.

UPDATE: It seems #WorldPiggyDay was celebrated with aplomb in the UK, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

Bad Piggies #WorldPiggyDay

Bad Piggies #WorldPiggyDay

A giant floating King Pig floated over Battersea Power Station in London

Bad Piggies #WorldPiggyDay

The 101 Tower in Taipei, Taiwan – the world’s third-tallest building – was lit up in green for the night

Bad Piggies #WorldPiggyDay

In Shanghai, these vans travelled around the city, asking if fans were on Team Red or Team Green

Bad Piggies #WorldPiggyDay

Also in Shanghai, buildings in the Bund went green for the night, but none more dedicated to the pigs than the Citigroup Tower on the right

Bad Piggies #WorldPiggyDay

Bad Piggies travelled in style in Hong Kong

Images via the Rovio blog

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com