Flappy Bird has been removed from both Google Play and the iTunes App Store by the game’s developer, Dong Nguyen. The game’s success was apparently too much for its creator to handle, even with the $50,000 per day it was making him. In a series of Tweets sent out this weekend, Nguyen stated that the game would be removed and that he “cannot take this anymore.”
He also mentioned that he will not be selling the game, that the pulling was not related to any sort of legal issues, and that he still makes games. Flappy bird and its reign, though, has come to an end. Well, it will likely still live on through third party channels or through anyone who has it installed still. There just won’t be any fresh installs from either major app store.
I’ll just say this about Flappy Bird. The game was a classic example of the beauty of a simple mobile game. We had a running joke around here about my love affair with Granny Smith at one time, but I still stand by my reason for loving it – it was simple, yet challenging, and I could play it at any time for any length of time. With Flappy Bird, you had simplicity, difficulty, and a competitive nature thanks to its tie-in to Google Play Games. You could pick it up, play it for 5 minutes or an hour, compete against friends’ scores, and then put it away. You didn’t need to pass levels, buy items through in-app purchases, or worry about the next big update that would fix bugs. It was simple. It was fun (for some). And everyone was capable of playing it at any time.
As you may recall, Flappy Bird made it into our top 5 games for January, which was a week or two before the rest of the world picked up on its buzz. We left it at that – a top 5 game for the month. There was no need for 4 SEO posts about it in a 24-hour period or guides on how to conquer it. It was what it was, a cult classic game that thrived through word-of-mouth before running its course. It was fun, it was frustrating, but we are most definitely ready for something to take its place.
Goodbye.
Via: @dongatory