Introduction
In this blog we take a look at the famous game Flappy Bird, and many interesting facts and stats.
The Creator
Dong Nguyen is the creator of Flappy Bird. Dong was born in Hanoi, Vietnam and moved to the United States in 1992. He is a software developer by trade who created Flappy Bird and several other games before its removal from Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
Nguyen has a brother who lives in Hanoi with his family, but neither has spoken publicly about the game’s success or its subsequent removal from app stores.
Reception
Flappy Bird was a huge success, and has been downloaded more than 50 million times. It’s currently the most downloaded game in the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore.
Windows version
The Windows version of the game was released in May 2014. It was developed by a different developer, Dong Nguyen, and released at the same time as the Android version. The Windows version was made available on Microsoft’s app store. Unlike its iOS and Android counterparts, it had no name or icon (and could not be downloaded directly). Instead it had to be found using an executable file named “FlapBird” if you wanted to get your hands on it.
Player response
If you were to ask the average Flappy Bird player, they would tell you that they love the game. The majority of players would agree that it’s fun and addictive, and many have even said that it’s their favorite game. However, critics had a much different opinion on the game when it first came out in 2013—and this is where things get interesting.
As we’ve already covered, critics didn’t like Flappy Bird at all; they thought it was too simple and unoriginal, especially since numerous games similar to Flappy Bird existed before its release (such as Super Mario Bros.). Many critics felt like Flappy Bird only succeeded because of luck rather than skill or strategy (which seems strange now after seeing how popularized this particular genre has become).
While players may have disagreed with these critiques at first (or maybe even still do), one thing most everyone agrees on is that no one could have predicted just how big this one little game would become!
Cloning and imitations
The Flappy Bird phenomenon resulted in many clones and imitations of the game. The creator of Flappy Bird said he was not against people making clones, but he did not make any money from them. He did not make any money from other games that were similar to Flappy Bird either (such as this one).
Removal from app stores
This is where it all gets a little odd. There are actually a few stories floating around about how Flappy Bird was removed from the app stores. The first version of the story goes like this: Dong Nguyen was sitting at his computer, playing Flappy Bird and getting frustrated because he couldn’t get past a certain obstacle in one of the later levels. When he finally got through it, he thought to himself “I’ve been working on this game for so long—I need something new to do!”
The second version is similar: Dong Nguyen was sitting at his computer when someone came up behind him and said “Hey man! You should check out this new game I’m working on.” Dong left with them without saying anything more than “okay”. The next day…
The Flappy Bird story is very interesting.
It is a very interesting story.
- Flappy Bird is a game that was very popular for a short period of time. It was created by Dong Nguyen and released on May 24, 2013. The game was removed from app stores in February 2014. It was free to download and play on the iOS App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Windows Phone Store platforms with ads appearing during gameplay (which could be disabled).
Conclusion
So what can we learn from this game? Well, it’s clear that the success of Flappy Bird came entirely by surprise. The game was never meant to be hard, but people still found it to be so challenging! Moreover, many gamers claim that they enjoyed playing it because of its difficulty. What do you think about all this? Do you agree or disagree? Comment below with your thoughts and stay tuned for more!