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Flappy Bird creator considers re-releasing the viral game

Flappy Bird creator considers re-releasing the viral game
Lewis Leong

Lewis Leong

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Flappy Bird’s success and disappearance were both a mystery. Its developer, Dong Nguyen, explained on Twitter that he took down the game because it was too addictive. But will the game ever return? “I’m considering it,” says Nguyen.

At the height of its popularity, Flappy Bird was generating an estimated $50,000 USD per day. That’s quite a lot of money for anyone, let alone the 28 year-old developer living in Hanoi, Vietnam.

His rapid fame came at a price: privacy. Soon, journalists were knocking at the door of his parent’s house, forcing Nguyen to flee to a friend’s apartment.

People can clone the app because of its simplicity, but they will never make another Flappy Bird.

Nguyen also faced intense criticism for copying his game and making it too addictive. One woman blamed Nguyen for “distracting the children of the world.”

At first, Nguyen thought the hate mail was a joke until he realized that video games can be legitimately addictive. He recalls playing too much of Counter-Strike, a shooting game, and failing his exams in high school.

Dong Nguyen - via Rolling Stone

And thus came Nguyen’s decision to remove the game. On February 9th, he pulled the game from the app stores. “I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever,” tweeted Nguyen.

Other developers quickly capitalized on Flappy Bird’s fame by flooding app stores with clones. Rolling Stone reports that a Flappy Bird clone appears every 24 minutes. “People can clone the app because of its simplicity, but they will never make another Flappy Bird,” says Nguyen.

Even if Flappy Bird does return, will players flock back?

Source: Rolling Stone

Image: Miaka Elan

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