RIP Flappy Bird: We Barely Knew You

Flappy Bird was a rare and unassuming game that took the iOS and Android platforms by storm to quickly become one of the most downloaded and played games ever on either one. However even faster than its meteoric rise was its sudden death in a decision that was as surprising as its success. Dong Nguyen, the creator of Flappy Bird, announced without warning that the game would be removed from both the App Store and Play Store, saying:

I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore. I also will not sell ‘Flappy Bird’, please don’t ask.

That was a day ago and now if you were to go to the App Store or Play Store, you’ll find no traces of Flappy Bird that you can download. Although there’s quite a lot of clones you can try. It’s curious as to why such a successful game would be removed all of a sudden. It was widely reported that Flappy Bird was earning Dong $50,000 a month, although more conservative estimates pegged it at around $6,000.

Anyway, if you’re fortunate to have been able to download it before it was taken down, you’ll still be able to play it. However, those who have never downloaded it to any of their devices will no longer be able to get it from either app ecosystem. I feel kind of lucky because I myself didn’t download the game until 2 days before Dong’s announcement.

Dong still plans to make other games in the future. He only plans to lay low for a while, as Flappy Bird drew too much attention for his liking. In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait with what he might come out with next or if he might re-release Flappy Bird after all.

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