It was a story that made headlines around the world: an indie developer from Vietnam somehow cooked up the latest smash hit mobile game, by himself, in a few days. He then went on to see millions of downloads of his super addictive arcade-style app across Android and iOS, and made a reported US$50 000 per day in ad revenue. And now he’s pulled the plug.
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This weekend, Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen tweeted that he would be taking his game off the app stores, seemingly because he does not want to endure the continued onslaught of attention. Ngugen, who has previously denied requests for interviews and has been inundated with tweets about his game, said that although he still views his game as a success, it was ruining his “simple life” and he had grown to “hate it”.
I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
I also don't sell 'Flappy Bird', please don't ask.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
And I still make games.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
Although Nguyen received numerous pleas from Flappy Bird fans and calls asking him to reconsider, he has followed through with his plan — the game is no longer listed in Google Play and Apple’s App Store. The millions who have downloaded the game already will be able to continue using it, although there will be no new updates or bug fixes from now onwards.
While Nguyen has said that the game was not taken down for legal reasons, Flappy Bird‘s sudden rise in popularity has brought with it lots of questions and less-than-complimentary commentary. Initial questions were raised about how a game by a one-man game studio saw such a spike in downloads and hit the top of the free game charts months after the first release, with some suggesting bots were used to inflate download counts and write fake reviews. Others later accused the game’s creator of lifting artwork from Mario Bros, mimicking the 8-bit lead character and pipes.
Still, the game has gathered a massive following — once the news that the game would be removed hit Twitter, fans set up a ‘Save Flappy Bird’ account (which has gone on to gain more than 17 000 followers in a weekend) and began to tweet their messages of support using #saveFlappyBird.
Let's make it happen! #SaveFlappyBird pic.twitter.com/cLr0fINkvt
— Save Flappy Bird (@SaveFlappyBlrd) February 8, 2014
