Flappy Bird – the side-scrolling mobile game featuring 2D retro style graphics which became a global hit overnight – has been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play. The popular game has been developed Vietnam-based developer Dong Nguyen, who announced on Twitter during the weekend that Flappy Bird’s massive success is ruining his simple life.
Nguyen wrote, “I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.” The developer stated last week that his game – which has been published by .GEARS Studios – was generating $50,000 on a daily basis and has been downloaded more than 50 million times across the Apple App Store, as well as Google Play.
With Flappy Bird’s unexpected success came a significant amount of scrutiny and some have been accusing Nguyen of acquiring assets from Nintendo IPs. On the other hand, the developer was quick to deny assumptions that the popular game’s removal is due to legal reasons. Nguyen explained on Twitter that it is not anything related to legal issues and that he just cannot keep it anymore.
Following the game’s success, a number of copycat titles have been released, including Clumsy Bird, Flappy Octopus and Flappy Angry Bird.
Photo Credits: VideoGameWriters
