The Real Reason “Flappy Bird” Was Removed

Flappy Bird is a mobile game that has taken over the lives of mobile users the past few months. The game was sold in the Apple App Store and Google Play stores until this past weekend when it was suddenly removed. Gamers were devastated and have been trying to find out why they would take down a game that has been played by millions.

Before taking the game down, Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen posted a tweet on his personal Twitter page, explaining to his fans that he would be taking the game down in 22 hours. “I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore,” he tweeted. His tweet was re-tweeted over 145,000 times by his followers.

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

Now, Nguyen has sat down for an exclusive interview with Forbes, where he revealed the real reason why he chose to take Flappy Bird off the market. He said that he developed the game, along with other games in the IOS market, for people to play occasionally, and they were made for relaxation. However, he quickly realized that the game was extremely addictive, and was causing problems among mobile gamers.

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.

Originally, it was thought that Nintendo had sent Nguyen threats over the similarities of his game to their Mario Bros games. Nguyen confirmed that this was not the case, and that he made the decision on his own. He also said that if any of his other games become this addictive that he will remove them as well.

< Needless to say, users were extremely upset over the removal of their new addiction, and it was reported that Nguyen had received death and suicide threats from some users. There is some good news... if you have the app already downloaded on your phone, you can continue to play it. Only new purchases will not be allowed. If you would like to play Flappy bird, you may not be able to play the original game, but there are some similar games popping up in the app stores. Just be careful because some of them have been having issues with malware which could damage your phone, or other device.

[Image via Facebook]