Prices make feathers fly for Angry Birds' merchandise_美文

Prices make feathers fly for Angry Birds' merchandise

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In comparison with its sizzling debut as a mobile game, the opening of the first Angry Birds retail outlet in China was more of a damp squib.

Its producer, Rovio Entertainment, announced an ambitious target of a billion fans for the popular game via brick-and-mortar stores but sales have not been as encouraging as the Finnish company expected, at least in the first three weeks following the grand opening in July.

On the underground floor of the Grand Gateway mall in one of Shanghai's central business districts, Xujiahui, a small group of high school girls walked into a three-dimensional version of the virtual world.

As well as colorful soft toys such as red birds and green pigs, the store sells a wide variety of Angry Birds merchandise including iPhone cases, shirts, bags, toys and, of course, games.

However, the girls decided to leave after just five minutes. No other customer was inside the shop before they entered.

"Those products are not cheap at all, especially when you compare them with the price online," said Pan Yankai, a 16-year-old who used to play the game a lot.

And by "online", she was not referring to Rovio's official e-store on tmall.com, the country's most influential business-to-customer site, but the pirated spin-offs flooding other websites.

It is true. An Angry Birds-themed T-shirt costs 259 yuan ($40) in the store and an iPhone case sells for 138 yuan. Fakes can be bought through unauthorized channels at a fifth of the price of authentic ones.