Flappy Bird Developer Speaks Out For First Time Since Clipping Hit Game's Wings
February 11, 2014
Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen has spoken out for the first time since he pulled his sleeper hit of a game from the App Store.
In an exclusive interview with Forbes, the Vietnam-based developer revealed that Flappy Bird is "gone forever" because it has "become an addictive product":
“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” says Dong Nguyen, in an exclusive interview, his first since he pulled the plug on the app. “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.”Even as the game's surprise success had been earning him "a lot" (more than $50,000 per day in ad revenue, according to The Verge), Nguyen said that he decided to try to stop the Flappy Bird madness because “my life has not been as comfortable as I was before.” He still plans to continue developing games, though. At the moment, he has two other popular iOS games, Super Ball Juggling and Shuriken Block. Along with Flappy Bird, these games have made Nguyen the first developer to have three apps in Apple’s Top Free Apps chart. But he has no intention to exact the same fate on these games as he did on Flappy Bird since he deems them "harmless." He also has no intention to take action against the copycat games that have emerged in the wake of Flappy Bird's demise —even acknowledging that Ironpants, one of the most popular among such games, is "a good game." You can read the rest of Forbes' interview with Nguyen here. For more on the Flappy Bird saga, see also: Badland Goes Half-Price In Memory Of Fellow One-Tap iOS Game Flappy Bird, Updated: Still Got Flappy Bird Installed? Then Your iPhone Could Be Worth A Lot, and Frustratingly Fun Hit Game Flappy Bird Gets Updated With New Birds, New UI And More.
