Flappy Bird Taken Down Due to Developer's Concern for the Game's Addicts
Developer Dong Nguyen revealed the his reason for pulling the wildly popular Flappy Bird game from iOS and Android markets in an interview with Forbes. He claims that he was concerned that it became "an addictive product."
"It happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem," said Nguyen to Forbes. "My life has not been as comfortable as I was before. I couldn't sleep."
The game's removal from the market has brought some rest to Nguyen, who also recently met with Vietnam's deputy prime minister in the midst of the controversy brought on by a game he created.
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He considered developing a sequel for Flappy Bird, which was created last year, but might skip it in favor of releasing other games.
Flappy Bird generates $50,000 per day in ad revenue, according to recent to the game's creator.
Nguyen reported to The Verge that the money generated from in-app ads equates to that impressive number. Flappy Bird has been downloaded 50 million times since it launched for iOS last September and Android last month.
The game consists of navigating a bird through a maze of pipes by tapping on the screen. The levels resemble Super Mario Bros. as the pipes seem very similar to those found in Nintendo's game. The objective is to get a high score by getting the bird through as many pipes as possible. Once the bird touches something the game is over, and it will restart.
Nguyen took to Twitter last week to announce his decision to stop offering it in online stores for unspecified reasons.
"I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore," tweeted Nguyen. "It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore. I also don't sell 'Flappy Bird' please don't ask."
