Rovio highlights value of Chinese social network, placing Weibo alongside Twitter and Facebook

If you want to see how important China is to Rovio's longterm strategy for Angry Birds, one screen will show you all you need to know.

In the English version of Angry Birds Space, alongside logos encouraging you to like or follow the brand on Facebook and Twitter, sits the logo for Sina Weibo.

A Twitter-style social network, it's estimated to have 140 million users, accounting for 60 percent of the activity of the Chinese micro-blogging market, outgunning companies such as Tencent and Baidu.

In contrast, Twitter is reckoned to also have around 140 million active users, although Weibo is growing at 20 million users a month.

As for Rovio's committment to China, it localises versions of its games for the market, has a development team in the country, and plans for up to 100 retail stores to sell Angry Birds' merchandise.

Chief marketing officer Peter Vesterbacka often proudly tells journalists Angry Birds is 'most pirated' brand in the country.