The Flappy Birds saga is about to have a conclusion....or is it?
Dong Nguyen, the creator of the strangely popular game Flappy Birds, which inexplicably hit #1 on downloads in both the iTunes and Google Play markets for mobile gaming, is going to be calling it quits at Noon tomorrow, according to his Twitter feed.
In a series of somewhat random tweets, here's what the creator had to say:
I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
According to several outlets, Nguyen has come under some fire lately, mainly on his Twitter feed, because his game uses what looks to be backgrounds and graphics from the Super Mario Bros. series. While Nguyen says that this has nothing to do with legal issues, one has to venture a guess that Nintendo, which takes its IPs about as serious as anyone in the gaming world, was probably not far off from sending a cease and desist letter. While there is no proof of this, all one has to do is look at the various amount of vitriolic posts he receives on a daily basis on his Twitter feed now that the game had hit its peak in popularity, which in of itself is confusing. The game is nothing special. It's a bird that takes ridiculous arcs in order to get through a side-scrolling maze of pipes. Yet, somehow, this title managed to get to the top spots. The real reason for the yank of the game has to be that it is supported by advertisements. With the amount of downloads and plays that the title has been receiving, Nguyen probably wants to get out of the way of fire even if he is making a large amount of money from the game.
Either way, say goodbye to this game tomorrow, though something tells us that this is not the end of this saga. We wait on Nintendo to see if they come calling for some of that money Nguyen has made because of the obvious resemblance to Nintendo's most famous IP in the world.
