Though Angry Birds Star Wars 2 had an official release date of September 19 (tomorrow), Rovio this morning began teasing fans with the prospect of an early release for the game. The developer used its social media channels in an almost taunting way to string fans along.
Now, Rovio has made good on its implicit promise and released Angry Birds Star Wars 2 one day early. The game, oddly, showed up in the Windows Phone app store hours ago, and has now become available for iOS through Apple’s App Store and Android through the Google Play store. The app costs $0.99 on every platform.
As the sequel to last year’s hit Angry Birds Star Wars, the game brings more than 30 Star Wars characters into the Angry Birds universe, represented as either birds or (in the case of “bad guys”) pigs. The game also allows players to step into the shoes of Star Wars’ dark pork-sided characters, such as Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Maul.
Also, the sequel has brought plenty of branding opportunities for Rovio. In addition to the new t-shirt and plushies that will undoubtedly be released in the coming months, Angry Birds Star Wars 2 includes a Skylanders-like “telepods” system that enables players to transfer plastic figurine toys into digital in-game characters.