Dubbed the “Drug of the App Store,” Flappy Bird is a deceptively simple game created by Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen. The player is tasked with maneuvering a frantic bird through a series of pipes by tapping on the screen. The bird, however, is about as weightless as a cinder block and does not so much fly as it does briefly remain aloft before hurtling towards the ground. Due to its difficulty, Flappy Bird has obviously generated mutual frustration among users. Some memorable quotes from App Store Reviews include:
- “It was all fun and games until I found this game.”
- “This game is ruining my life.”
- “My brother hasn’t taken a shower in a month.”
The game’s popularity exploded worldwide. People everywhere seemed to have dropped the smooth physics of Angry Birds in favor of the pixelated madness of Flappy Bird; it topped the charts only months after publication. However, as of Sunday, February 9th, Flappy Bird is no longer available from any app store and has been completely taken out of circulation. Nguyen’s exact motives for dismissing the game are unclear, except for what can be gleaned from a handful of ominous tweets (@dongatory). The mysterious game maker writes simply, “I cannot take this anymore.”
Whether the overwhelming press drove Nguyen to retract the Flappy Bird, or if it was pressure from more sinister sources (conspiracy theories center around the unusual spike in the game’s success) is a question the elusive game maker might never answer. All that remains to iPhone and Android users is an app they hesitate to delete; a $50,000/day enterprise that rocketed into fame and was quickly pulled back into the obscurity from whence it came.