Would you believe that a mobile game app had to be shut down because it became too popular?
Yes indeed in 2013 a seemingly simple mobile game called Flappy Bird went viral worldwide.
The game became so popular overnight that within a year it had been downloaded over 90 million times and was generating $50,000 a day in ad revenue.
But after the game became popular, developer and programmer Dong Nguyen made a surprising decision to shut it down suddenly.
The story of Flappy Bird’s sudden success and disappearance is also the story of a developer who got caught up in the whirlwind of sudden success and gave up.
Dong Nguyen’s journey into game development began with his love for a game called Super Mario Bros.
Because of Super Mario, the developer from Vietnam decided to develop his own games and for this purpose he obtained a computer science degree from Hanoi University of Science.
After that, he started working in a video game company in Vietnam.
The Idea for Flappy Bird Dong Nguyen came up with when he felt the need to create a game that was simple yet challenging for busy people.
Inspired by table tennis, he developed the game in which a bird is seen flying across the screen.
They developed this game in just 2-3 days which had the ability to keep people engaged like an addiction.
The game went viral on social media overnight and there was a competition among people to make the highest score.
It started being listed as the top game in the app stores, due to which it was downloaded more than 90 million times.
As the game’s popularity grew, so did Dong Nguyen, who became the center of attention, receiving numerous interviews, media attention, and death threats from players upset about not being able to complete the game.
The game was heavily criticized by parents, teachers and players alike for its addictive nature.
Also, the pressure of constantly updating the game and receiving too much attention also had a negative impact on the developer’s personality.
It was for this reason that in February 2014 they decided to remove the game from the app stores and stuck to this announcement despite the disappointment of millions of people.
The game’s sudden disappearance further fueled its popularity and spawned several clones, but none were successful.
After the game’s disappearance, on the last day of 2014, Google created a Google Doodle featuring Flappy Bird, which talked about the popular things of the year.
After that, Dong Nguyen lived a quiet life developing new games and staying out of the public eye.
Flappy Bird is still an interesting chapter in mobile gaming history, showing how simplicity and unexpected success can lead to people’s downfall.
