Flappy Bird for iOS, Android taken down by developer

Advertisement
By Reuters | Updated: 12 February 2014 18:16 IST
The developer of Flappy Bird, the former most popular free mobile game on the Apple Inc App Store and Google Inc's Android Play store, took the game down at midnight on Sunday as he announced he would do 22 hours earlier.

The game is no longer available to download for either Apple or Google users, but its fans still can have fun with the bird if they already downloaded the game to their devices.

Nguyen Ha Dong, a Hanoi-based game developer, announced the grounding of the addictive game in a Tweet at 1900 GMT on Saturday in which he also apologised to Flappy Bird players.

"Twenty-two hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down," Dong said, adding "it is not anything related to legal issues.

Advertisement

"I cannot take this anymore," he wrote.

(Also see: Flappy Bird creator says will take down the game on Sunday)

His Tweet attracted more than 136,000 Retweets as of 0430 GMT on Monday.

Flappy Bird caused a sensation after rising from obscurity to become one of the most downloaded mobile games on both Apple and Google's online stores.

Advertisement

Users have to steer a bird between green pipes. The Android version has been downloaded up to 50 million times and attracted more than half a million reviews.

Many people have been questioning Dong on Twitter about his decision to take down the game as only a day earlier he had been talking about developing the game for Microsoft's Windows phones.

Advertisement

(Also see: Flappy Bird mobile game sensation coming to Windows Phone this month)

Dong could not be reached for comment. He turned his telephone off after cancelling an interview with Reuters on Thursday and not finalising arrangements for one on Friday.

Advertisement

Unlike other successful game makers like Rovio Entertainment, which produced the hugely popular Angry Birds game and has hundreds of programmers, Dong made Flappy Bird by himself in a few nights, he said on Twitter earlier.

The game, which he said was inspired by Nintendo's Mario Bros, has been earning on average $50,000 a day from advertising, Dong said in a media interview.

Two friends of Dong said Nintendo had sent him a warning letter, but the Japanese game maker said it was not considering a lawsuit.

"It sounds very much like a rumour and if it is, we certainly can't comment on that," Nintendo's media representative told Reuters on Friday.

One gaming company manager said Dong's decision to take down the game was wise.

"Dong is taking one step back to avoid legal risk because it's too difficult to deal with legal issues himself if it happens," said Duy Doan, a senior manager at VTC Online, one of Vietnam's leading game companies.

Dong said earlier that he was not looking for any investors and would not sell the game. One expert said investors would not be interested.

"Flappy Bird is not to the taste of many game investors because it's just hit-based which will bring very uncertain cash flow and no recurring," said Nguyen Hieu Linh, investment manager at the Japanese CyberAgent Ventures Inc.

"I doubt he needs to fund raise as he's already earned a certain amount of money and he doesn't need more help to make this kind of mini game," Linh added.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Apps, Dong Nguyen, Flappy Bird, Games
Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Realme 15T With 50-Megapixel Selfie Camera Debuts in India: See Price
  1. BCCI Says Crypto, Real Money Gaming Platforms Can’t Bid for Team India’s Title Sponsorship
  2. Scientists Discover Hidden Mantle Layer Beneath the Himalayas Challenging Century-Old Theory
  3. Astronomers Propose Rectangular Telescope to Hunt Earth-Like Planets
  4. Microsoft Testing Native Clipboard Sync Feature to Share Text Between Windows PCs, Android Devices
  5. Su From So OTT Release: When and Where to Watch This Kannada-Language Horror-Comedy Online
  6. Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless 80th Anniversary Edition Launched in India With Up to 60 Hour Battery Life
  7. Call of Duty Film Adaption Said to Be a 'Priority' at Paramount, Negotiations on to Acquire Rights
  8. Cannibal Solar Storm May Trigger Auroras as Powerful Geomagnetic Storm to Hit Earth Soon
  9. Apple's iPhone 8 Plus Listed as Vintage Product Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch, 11-Inch MacBook Air Now Obsolete
  10. Hidden Reason Behind Portugal’s Deadly Earthquakes Finally Explained
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.