Angry Birds Space won't release on Windows Phone

UPDATE: Rovio has backtracked on its previous statement, saying it is in fact working on a Windows Phone port of Angry Birds Space.

Chief executive Mikael Hed contradicted comments made by his boss Peter Vesterbacka, who told Bloomberg a Windows Phone port was not something Rovio wanted to make.

Now, miraculously, a Windows Phone port is on the cards. "We are working towards getting Angry Birds Space to WP7," Hed told Reuters. "We are working closely together with Nokia to bring our games to their platforms. Our mutual goal is to bring the best possible experience to our fans, including all fans using Windows Phone devices."

A release date has not been set.

ORIGINAL STORY: Angry Birds Space will not release on the Windows Phone platform, Rovio has confirmed.

On the launch of its latest in the phenomenally successful game franchise, Rovio boss Peter Vesterbacka said there were no plans to port Angry Birds Space to the Microsoft-made platform - despite the original game being the best-selling Windows Phone app.

Why? According to Rovio, it's just not worth it for "smaller platforms".

"We're the number one app in the Windows Phone app store, but it's a big undertaking to support it, and you have to completely rewrite the application," Vesterbacka told Bloomberg.

"If you look at activations, Apple's iOS and Android are clearly bigger than any other platform," he continued. "We want to be on all screens, but we have to consider the cost of supplying the smaller platforms. With Windows Phone it's a lot of work to technically support it."

Rovio has pulled no punches in its targets for the Angry Birds franchise. It no longer considers itself a game company, and hopes to grow larger than media behemoth Disney in the near future.

Vesterbacka reckons Angry Birds may reach a billion cumulative downloads in the next few months, fuelled by the release of Space. That figure could rise to an eye-watering two billion by the end of the year.

Four more Angry Birds games are planned for launch by the end of 2012.