Flappy Bird Developer Removing Game

[UPDATE: It appears Dong Nguyen was a man of his word as the developer has eliminated all traces of Flappy Bird from mobile stores.]

[Update 2: The reason why Flappy Bird was removed and the aftermath.]

Well, that was fast. After only a few days at the top of various mobile app stores it appears the phenomenon known as Flappy Bird will soon be no more. This according to the game's sole developer, Dong Nguyen, who broke news of his game's imminent disappearing act over Twitter.

While many have debated Flappy Bird's legitimacy both as a game and as a quality product, few can deny the title's popularity over the last week or so. Some of that popularity came from pure curiosity, and the rest likely stemmed from the addictive nature of the game.

Whatever the case, the fact of the matter is Flappy Bird was dominating on the iOS and Android app stores, quite the accomplishment considering the game broke onto the scene back in May of last year. Unfortunately, it sounds like Flappy Bird's success will be short lived as Nguyen has announced he will take the game offline very soon.

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As far as Nguyen's reasoning for taking down Flappy Bird, it's a little unclear. He makes claims that the game is ruining his life and that its success was something he never wanted, but the developer doesn't provide much in the way of an explanation. How has the game ruined his life and why is too much success a bad thing?

Those who have yet to check out Flappy Bird seemingly have a few more hours to download the game for a variety of mobile platforms. We can't say that you'll enjoy your time with the game - it's basically an endless runner in the vain of OlliOlli or Canabalt only with much more basic mechanics - but at least you will know what everyone is talking about. To put it simply, Flappy Bird is a case of catching lightning in a bottle, and then having people trash talk that lightning for the better part of a week.

As a single developer with the goal of making a simple game — which Nguyen claims was his only aspiration when creating Flappy Bird — it's sad to see Dong Nguyen pull the plug on his game, regardless of criticism. Whether or not he will actually go through with it is still yet to be seen, but it appears the legacy of the bird that flaps will come to an end almost as fast as it burst onto the scene.

Have you played Flappy Bird? What do you think? Does it deserve the backlash it received?

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Source: Dong Nguyen - Twitter