Sega Corp. has agreed to pay about $776 million for Rovio Entertainment, the Finland-based maker of the “Angry Birds” game franchise. The move aims to help Sega establish a presence in mobile gaming while launching Rovio IP in the PC and console markets. The tender offer — equivalent to about $10.15 per share — was issued from Sega’s wholly-owned UK subsidiary Sega Europe Ltd. and parent company Sega Sammy Holdings. Sega, based in Japan, has as part of its mid-term plan earmarked $1.8 billion for expanding its global presence and “exploring new ecosystems” through 2026. Read more

Canon USA is preparing to launch a curated photography marketplace for NFTs called Cadabra that is expected to go live in the U.S. later this year and expand globally thereafter. Canon previewed Cadabra at the annual NFT.NYC show, revealing few details other than it will mint its NFT transactions on the Ethereum blockchain and allow participating photographers to offer physical prints along with their NFT drops, which Canon will fulfill. Although some NFT marketplaces require customers to make purchases with specific cryptocurrencies, Canon says Cadabra will support credit and debit cards along with cryptocurrency wallets. Read more

Peacock struck a deal with Meta Platforms that will allow its subscribers to view movies, TV shows and sports in virtual reality on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro headsets. That includes MLB and NFL games, “all in VR on your own giant, personal screen.” VR will be available to all Peacock subscribers, starting with the ad-subsidized $4.99 per month Premium tier, but those who sign-up with a qualifying Quest 2 or Quest Pro before April 11, 2024 will be eligible to receive Peacock Premium for 12 months at no additional cost. Those who had qualifying Meta headsets registered on or before April 11, 2023 will be eligible for three free months of Peacock Premium. Read more

Twitter appears to be angling for a slice of the newsletter market, with tweets of up to 10,000 words now available to Twitter Blue subscribers in the U.S. That’s more than double the 4,000-character limit paid accounts were extended in February. Those using the platform’s free tier are still allowed only 280-character tweets. The lengthy posts are intended to help users monetize through subscriptions, which can be priced at $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99 per month. In addition to the character cap increase, Twitter Blue subscribers will also gain access to support for bold and italics text formatting. Read more

Montana law may soon include a total ban on TikTok, as governor Greg Gianforte decides whether to sign a first-of-its-kind prohibition approved by the state’s House of Representatives on Friday. The legislation would also seek to prevent app stores doing business in the state from carrying TikTok. Gianforte will also have the option to veto the proposal, or take no action for 10 days after the bill hits his desk, in which case it becomes law without his signature. Such a ban would likely be challenging to enforce at the state level. Blocking users from TikTok has gained bipartisan support at the federal level, though efforts to pass nationwide legislation have failed. Read more