Flappy Bird was removed because it became an addictive product, says developer
Dong Nguyen, Vietnam-based developer, has spoken out for the first time after pulling the massively popular game Flappy Bird.
Developer of the popular mobile game Flappy Bird reveals he had decided to take down the game as it had become an ‘addictive product’.
In an interview to Forbs, Dong Nguyen said: “Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed. But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever.”
The developer, however, says he will continue to develop games in the future. “After the success of Flappy Bird, I feel more confident, and I have freedom to do what I want to do,” he added.
Dong Nguyen also commented on the clones of Flappy Bird available on the Apple app store. He said would not take actions against clones such as Flappy Plane, Flappy Whale, Flappy Penguin and Flappy Angry Bird that have flooded the app stores. “I have tried playing Ironpants,” he added. “It’s a good game.”
Earlier this week, Dong Nguyen grabbed everyone’s attention when he announced decision to pull down the game from the app stores. Nyugen had tweeted that “I cannot take this anymore.” His other tweets suggested that he was frustrated with the media attention and controversies around the game, especially the allegations that Flappy Bird was copied from several popular games.
I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
On February 04, he tweeted asking for “peace” and called the media is “overrating” the game. Four days later, he tweeted, “I can call Flappy Bird is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.”
Interestingly, a recent The Verge report claimed Flappy Bird was making about $50,000 from in-app advertising.
Source: Forbes