Almost as soon as Flappy Bird reached its peak popularity, it was gone from the iTunes App Store, leaving many confused.
The mobile game’s creator, Dong Nguyen, took the lucrative game off the iTunes market Feb. 9, seemingly unable to cope with the success of his game and the popularity that came with it.
“I can call Flappy Bird is [sic] a success of mine,” Nguyen, who lives in Vietnam, tweeted Feb. 8. “But it also ruins my simple life so now I hate it.”
Some speculated that the game was taken down due to pending lawsuits against Nguyen for Flappy Bird’s striking similarities to other games such as Helicopter. He denied such claims in other tweets, later telling Forbes that he pulled the game because it was too addictive.
“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” he said. “But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem.”
Even more surprising than its sudden removal was the initial fanfare for the game.
“It’s not about the graphics or style,” said junior Omar Solaiman of the school’s Game Developers Club. “It’s about the gameplay.”
The game has one simple rule: tap to avoid the pipes. Users play as a pixelated yellow bird whose mission is to avoid as many pipes as possible. It sounds easy enough, but many found the game challenging to master.
The game also appealed to users’ competitive natures. The app allowed players to post their high scores to social media sites, which led to a friendly competition among Facebook friends.
“I started playing because other people I knew were playing,” said Solaiman. “I understood why people enjoyed it. Social media contributed toward its success.”
The actual quality of the addicting game remains up for debate.
“I was drawn by the hype, not because it was a good game,” said junior Stacy Stovall. “Trying to beat my high score and the simplicity was what made me continue.”
Though the game is off the market and only available to mobile phone users who downloaded it from the iTunes Store before its removal, its impact on the gaming world lingers.
The iTunes market now holds numerous copycat versions of Flappy Bird — as February was ending, the Guardian reported that about a third of new iOS games were Flappy Bird copies.
Sellers are auctioning off phones with Flappy Bird already downloaded on them for as much as $5,000 on eBay, and Flappy Bird artwork is selling for up to $15,000.
Featured image: A University of Maryland Student struggles on the opening section of Flappy Bird, she’s one of many to download the game before it was taken off of the market. (Photo by Kelsey Sutton / PublicAsian)
