"Flappy Bird" is flapping its way back to the app stores this summer - this time with "less addictive" features, so says its creator.
When Vietnam-based game developer Dong Nguyen released the infuriatingly addictive game in May last year, he wasn't expecting a deluge of downloads. Nothing much happened until the start of this year, when "Flappy Bird" rose to the top of the free charts on Apple's App Store in the U.S., the U.K. and China. The sudden spike in its popularity also made it a top-grossing app on Google Play Store just a week after its Android version was released.
In the U.S., the game became the eighth most downloaded free app of all time and the sixth most downloaded free game with more than 50 million downloads in total. What Nguyen didn't anticipate, however, was that the game's addictive nature - the very thing that won the hearts of many "Flappy Bird" addicts - also caused its downfall. On February 8, the game's creator took to Twitter and posted a death threat to his own creation. Nguyen said he "hates" the game because it ruined his "simple life."
"I am sorry. 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore," he said. "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."
Just a few months after the seemingly permanent demise of the simple but extremely difficult game, Nguyen has resurfaced saying "Flappy Bird" fanatics will be able to enjoy torturing themselves over the game once more.
In a latest interview on CNBC's Closing Bell, Nguyen told Kelly Evans that the game will be making its way back on the shelves this August, but this time it will be "less addictive." With new multi-player capabilities, however, it is unclear how players will be able to let go of their smartphones once they are pitted against somebody else in the race to make their way through a series of shiny green pipes.
Nguyen said he would rather see people being "productive" with their lives than obsessing over a simple game, though he said he does not regret creating "Flappy Bird."
At its peak, "Flappy Bird" reportedly earned Nguyen $50,000 in advertising revenue every day, something that allowed the developer to buy himself his own apartment. He told CNBC that he is still earning from in-game advertisements but the earnings are "not much."
However, given that the game's comeback is still a couple of months away, TechCrunch thinks "Flappy Bird" won't be the same phenomenal success it once was.
"He now says it's coming in August, so there's a very high likelihood we all will have forgotten about this anatomically incomplete bird and his pipes as the next shiny bauble is sure to catch our eye long before then," says TechCrunch.
