Sega is about to close a deal to acquire the gaming developer behind the Angry Birds franchise.

Rovio Entertainment, a Finnish company, developed the Angry Birds game in 2009, during the early days of mobile gaming. It was the first mobile game to surpass 1 billion downloads – and recently passed the 5 billion mark.

Sega Sammy Holdings may close the A$1.5 billion takeover as early as this week, according to WSJ sources, “assuming the talks don’t break down or drag out.”

Rovio was in talks to sell for A$1.2 billion to Israel-based mobile studio Playtika, but those negotiations fell over last month.

Now Sega has swooped in to buy the bird.

Numerous gaming studios have been swallowed up by larger players in recent times.

Take-Two bought FarmVille maker Zynga last year, in a A$16.4 billion deal, while Microsoft is still attempt to land its A$100 billion Activision Blizzard takeover.

Sony is also finalising a A$5.37 billion deal to buy Halo and Destiny maker Bungie.