Game Over for Flappy Bird

When Flappy Bird was first put up on the Apple App Store and Google Play, it quickly became one of the most popular apps for mobile devices. Instantly, the game caused a variety of reactions. While some praised its simplicity and easy entertainment, most users appeared to be completely outraged by its difficulty and addictive nature. Some players have jokingly suggested that the creator of the game, Dong Nguyen, might in fact be Satan.

Then, on February 8, 2014, something happened:
R.I.P. Flappy Bird  (or so it seemed).

Nguyen’s decision to take down the game from the Apple app store was greeted with a wide variety of responses. While some users applauded Nguyen’s decision, others mourned the tragic loss of their beloved pixel birdie.
However, Nguyen is making a mistake by removing this game from the app store (he was generating over $50,000 per day just in app advertising, making this seem foolish financially). In an interview, he said “Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed, 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.” Nguyen said that it was guilt – atop the fact that “my life has not been as comfortable as I was before” – that motivated him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. He added that his conscience is relieved; he spent the past few days, Internet-free, catching up on slumber. Nguyen says even his own parents didn’t even know that Flappy Bird existed, much less his role in it, until media coverage began bombarding him. Though whatever the reason may have been for flappy bird’s demise, Nguyen insists that he will not be bringing flappy birds back.

What he may not realize is that there are still several ways to get a copy of Flappy Bird, and in addition, most of the Flappy Bird users still have the app installed on their iDevices. Phones with the game still installed have been listed on Ebay for thousands of dollars. Surprisingly, many of these phones have actually been purchased by foolish customers who don’t realize how easy it is to obtain a copy of the game through other means. In addition, there are so many knock offs of the game, fans need not worry.  Clones have stormed the App store with names like Flappy Plane, Flappy Whale, Flappy Penguin, Flappy Angry Bird, and even Flappy Miley.
Android users can easily find the .apk file for Flappy Bird online, and jailbroken iPhone users can use VShare or AppCake to install the application. In the end, Nguyen’s decision to remove flappy bird was meaningless, besides the fact that it caused people to successfully sell their mobile devices for well over reasonable prices.