Developer of unexpected iOS hit Flappy Bird pulls title from App Store
The developer behind massively popular indie game Flappy Bird removed the app from Apple's iOS App Store on Sunday, saying he 'cannot take this anymore.'
After a meteoric rise to the No. 1 spot on Apple's iOS App Store charts, the deceivingly simple Flappy Bird has been removed by the game's developer Dong Nguyen. The takedown comes after Nguyen promised to pull Flappy Bird on Saturday.
At one point, Flappy Bird was raking in about $50,000 per day from in-game advertising, reports The Verge. In addition to revenue, ads were added to enhance the gaming experience, according to Nguyen, who modeled the title after bite-sized Japanese offerings.
The exact reason for Flappy Bird's removal is unknown, though Nguyen stated legal issues are not to blame. When the developer announced he would be pulling the app, some theorized Nintendo had taken issue with the title's art style, which was heavily influenced by Super Mario Bros. In a series of tweets following the sudden rise in downloads it became apparent that Nguyen was distressed by the amount of attention he and his game were getting.
Also unclear is why the game became so popular. After lying relatively dormant in the App Store since its debut in May 2013, Flappy Bird saw a huge spike in downloads over a short period of time. Some attribute the boost to a slew of social media posts and ensuing press coverage.
Nguyen's small development firm dotGears Studios has released a few other titles similar to Flappy Bird, though none have seen the same level of success. With a refusal to sell the game's rights to another party, it appears Flappy Bird's death will be just as spontaneous as its rise to the top.
After a meteoric rise to the No. 1 spot on Apple's iOS App Store charts, the deceivingly simple Flappy Bird has been removed by the game's developer Dong Nguyen. The takedown comes after Nguyen promised to pull Flappy Bird on Saturday.
At one point, Flappy Bird was raking in about $50,000 per day from in-game advertising, reports The Verge. In addition to revenue, ads were added to enhance the gaming experience, according to Nguyen, who modeled the title after bite-sized Japanese offerings.
The exact reason for Flappy Bird's removal is unknown, though Nguyen stated legal issues are not to blame. When the developer announced he would be pulling the app, some theorized Nintendo had taken issue with the title's art style, which was heavily influenced by Super Mario Bros. In a series of tweets following the sudden rise in downloads it became apparent that Nguyen was distressed by the amount of attention he and his game were getting.
I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.
-- Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) Also unclear is why the game became so popular. After lying relatively dormant in the App Store since its debut in May 2013, Flappy Bird saw a huge spike in downloads over a short period of time. Some attribute the boost to a slew of social media posts and ensuing press coverage.
Nguyen's small development firm dotGears Studios has released a few other titles similar to Flappy Bird, though none have seen the same level of success. With a refusal to sell the game's rights to another party, it appears Flappy Bird's death will be just as spontaneous as its rise to the top.
Comments
Honestly, I was confused by the striking similarity in both thematics and semantics.
@Sporlo, I think the App Store reviews referring to possession and the devil is part of this meme. People have been making up stories about how this game has caused them to lose their life and sanity to the addictive qualities of this game. It's a bit of an ongoing dark-humor joke about this game.
I think that all of these jokes, videos, and internet memes being created in reference to this game, is part of the reason why the creator has taken down the game. I, personally, don't believe that is a justified reason to take a game that makes him $50k a day, but it's what he felt was the right thing to do.
With that sort of money, Dong could/should just a hire a PR Manager to filter out the abuse. I would! Life too short to deal with other people's insecurities.
Copycat Frappy Bird app in 3... 2... 1...
Was anyone else disturbed by the language of the Flappy Bird reviews? Either they were all written by the same person/organization, or for some strange reason it's common for people to associate an addicting game with Satan/the devil.
Honestly, I was confused by the striking similarity in both thematics and semantics.
I noticed it and was like what is going on here.... It was kind of suspicious unless people were trying to out do one another on their "review"
I also noticed my game updated yesterday and I just downloaded the game for the first time on Thursday. I thought that was weird once I heard he was pulling the game.
Has it been removed from the android store too?
Yes, it was removed from the Play Store as well.
Fappie Man. Avoid getting caught
Crappy Bird...
You mean 'fowl language'.
There are already a whole slew of copies in Google play, I was talking to a work colleague and as Flappy Bird was gone he settled for Flappy Wings, an almost exact replica.
Apparently this Dong guy couldn't deal with all the death and suicide threats he was getting via twitter.
I suspect there was something more to the takedown than 'hassle', after all we don't know what the 'it' was that he couldn't take any more; maybe not a strictly legal threat, but there are other reasons why it might have been necessary, perhaps Apple required a takedown for an undisclosed reason.
Maybe Flappy Candy.
Because it's ad revenue, the people who still have the game (50 million downloads) should still keep generating the money. It doesn't get removed from the devices. Some people have even taken to eBay to sell their devices at a premium with Flappy Bird installed.
That would explain it. The game was uploaded a year ago but just took off recently. The PewDiPie video has over 9 million views, Flappy starts about half way:
[VIDEO]
This is one distinction with iOS and consoles - the social media part and free to play or low cost games. When a big title comes out on consoles, the marketing is more controlled and directed towards these big titles. With iOS, it can be anything, any free game gets a mention where a lot of people are looking and it can take off big time. It's school kids that subscribe to these sort of Youtube channels.
Sadly, that's who developers and publishers are going to target now. They will aim to develop a game in under a week that will keep the attention of a few hundred thousand school kids for a few days and hope it goes viral. And nothing can stop it.
Marvin ! I got you !
I keep hearing this $50,000 number bandied about. Is that what the developer was averaging per day, or was that the gross ad revenue? Even if this is the gross, the developer supposedly gets 70%, so he was averaging at least $35000. Not too shabby.
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAYYYYYYY! Automator vs. Marvin, live on the Apple TV WWF channel!