The developer of the addictive game “Flappy Bird” Dong Nguyen says he pulled the game from the App Store because playing the game was so addictive the it became “a problem.” In an interview with Forbes, Nguyen confirmed that Flappy Bird is DOA, and will not be returning.
“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” Nguyen said. “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.”
In the wake of a surprising rise to the top of the App Store charts, Flappy Bird was pulled from the App Store on Sunday. While the game had been available in the store since May 2013, only recently had it went viral after word about the easy-to-play, yet frustrating game spread via social networks and YouTube.
Finally, Nguyen tweeted, “I cannot take this anymore,” and said he would pull Flappy Bird from the App Store. The move took almost everyone by surprise, as the game was reportedly earning $50,000 a day in ad revenue.
Nguyen says he create games in his spare time as a hobby, and noted that Flappy Bird took about three days to build.
Nguyen found himself overwhelmed by the attention received by both his game and himself, and pulled the game. Currently on leave from his day job as a firmware designer, Nguyen has not yet decided if he will return to that job.
