We all remember Flappy Bird – a simple but fun game that you could enjoy on your mobile phone no matter where you were or what you were doing. It was easy to play but almost impossible to clock – there was a seemingly endless number of levels.
But one day, seemingly out of the blue, it vanished – gone as if it had never been there. Flappy Bird’s disappearance was met with confusion and frustration, a much-loved game that many people used to pass the time.
So, what happened to Flappy Bird and why did it disappear?
What Exactly Was Flappy Bird?
Released in 2013, Flappy Bird was created and developed by a Vietnamese gamer and programmer. It’s based on the most simple of concepts – you, as he protagonist, are a bird that is flying from the left side of the screen towards the right, avoid green pipes as you go. For the player, it’s a side scroller, meaning you need to decide whether you want the bird to fly higher or lower to miss the pipes.
A year after it was released, Flappy Bird gained immense popularity, becoming a big hit in the beginning of 2014.
If you remember this period, you’ll remember how popular Flappy Bird was at the time – it was free download, simple to play and easy to stop and restart. Best of all for its creator, it was highly successful.
Positive Feedback and Big Money
Along with the game’s initial popularity came significant profit. In fact, by the end of 2014, Flappy Bird has the most popular game on the App Store for IOS. This popularity earned the game’s developer an average of $50,000 a day.
However, not everybody was a fan of Flappy Bird.
Flappy Bird Receives Criticism
Just like with any other game, Flappy Bird was tested and reviewed by critics and who weren’t all fans of the game. Some complained that it was simply too difficult for the ordinary player, while others made accusations concerning plagiarism of graphics and game mechanics.
The most poignant, however, were accusations of the game being addictive.
Reviewers Label Flappy Bird and Addictive and Dangerous
And these accusations of the game being addictive weren’t just flippant statements made by people who didn’t really care. Rather, the idea of Flappy Bird being addictive was something was a serious concern for many people.
So much so that the developer of the game himself started feeling immensely guilty, concerned that it was too addictive, and people were spending too much time playing. Consequently, on the 10th of February 2014 the game had been completely removed from both the iOS App Store and Google Play.
The game had gained such popularity that after it was no longer available for download, phones that already had it soared in value. They were sold all over the internet for exorbitant prices and people that had won big with the rugby betting NZ offers could afford to splash out.
A few games similar to Flappy Bird were developed in the months that followed, but ultimately, they were removed from both the App Store and Google Play.
