Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen has removed the hugely popular free app from the iOS and Android. In just a few weeks, the mobile app Flappy Bird became a global phenomenon.
Dong Nguyen, the mysterious developer of the world’s most popular free app, who drew global attention on this past weekend when he suddenly tweeted “I cannot take this anymore” and pulled the game from the app stores. In an interview with Forbes, Nguyen said the app is ‘gone forever’ because it was becoming too addictive for people. It was also causing him a lot of stress.
Nguyen told Forbes reporter Lan Anh Nguyen, “I just wanted to create a game that people could enjoy for a few minutes. But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever. Nguyen also said the app was disturbing his personal life.”
Story of ‘Flappy bird’
Flappy Bird has Super Nintendo-style graphics and many similarities with famous Helicopter Game. The game was pretty simple to play but hard to play better. Tap the screen to keep a bird flying through pipes and if a bird hits an obstacle then the bird dies.
Mr. Nguyen had spent only three days for developing “Flappy Bird.” Flabby bird previous name is ‘Flap Flap’. But, there was already another app with that name in the App Store. Thereafter, Nguyen renamed the game Flappy Bird. Flappy Bird was released for free on May 24, 2013 first for iOS with the small amount of fans by a Vietnam-based developer called .GEARS. In September 2013, Nguyen released his first update to Flappy Bird for iOS. On Jan 22, Nguyen announced that an Android version of the game was available in Google Play.
Flappy Bird Overall Success
- Flappy Bird officially entered the overall App Store table coming in at 1308 the game was ranked 74 in Family and top 395 for U.S. games in the U.S., on Dec. 3, 2013.
- The Flappy Bird had broken the top 250 for free apps and the top 80 for U.S. games in the U.S., on Dec. 13, and ranked 14 in Family.
- On Jan. 10, it has achieved a major milestone the app became a top-10 app in the United States. It was ranked the eighth-most-downloaded free app in the U.S. and the sixth-most-downloaded free game.
- On Jan. 17, the app became the number-one free app in the U.S. App Store, according to app-analytics company Distimo.
- Finally, Flappy Bird was the number-one free game in 53 countries in the App Store, on Feb. 1.
- An article in the Verge last week estimated his daily take from in-app advertising at $50,000.
Questions Raised
Flappy Bird has players navigated a pixilated bird through narrow corridors of green pipes that looked suspiciously like the pipes found in Nintendo ’s Super Mario Bros. The only reason Nintendo had sent him a legal threat, so it’s safe to say Flappy Bird took over the web.
Nguyen that put an end to the rumor, he denied reports “Nintendo had sent him a legal threat, or it had anything to do with him killing the app.” He also said “Striking any surface resulted in instant death, your chance of death multiplied exponentially with each gate you passed.”
The Japanese videogame giant Nintendo has not complained at all about Flappy Bird’s similarities to Nintendo’s original “Super Mario Bros.” In an email to the Wall Street Journal, Nintendo’s spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said, “While we usually do not comment on the rumors and speculations, we have already denied the speculation” last week.
Nguyen Still Make Games
Nguyen has removed Flappy Bird from sale and also said “I still make games”.
Nguyen has two other top app store games that are Super Ball Juggling and Shuriken Block, which are currently the number-six and number-eighteen on iOS store and plans to make more games. Nguyen said “I had no plans to remove those games, which he termed harmless. If he thought, users were getting addicted, however, I would not hesitate those also take them down.”
