One Line
Flappy Bird, a mobile game by Dong Nguyen, became a viral sensation in early 2014, generating $50,000 in daily revenue.
Slides
Slide Presentation (8 slides)
Key Points
- Flappy Bird was a mobile game developed by Dong Nguyen in 2013
- The game involved controlling a bird to fly between green pipes
- It gained sudden popularity in early 2014 before being removed from app stores
- Nguyen cited the addictive nature of the game as the reason for its removal
- Flappy Bird received mixed reviews from critics
- Several remakes and parodies of the game were created after its removal
Summaries
19 word summary
Flappy Bird, a 2013 mobile game by Dong Nguyen, gained sudden popularity in early 2014, earning $50,000 a day.
61 word summary
Flappy Bird, a 2013 mobile game by Dong Nguyen, gained sudden popularity in early 2014. It was the most downloaded free game in the App Store, earning $50,000 a day. However, it was removed from app stores due to its addictive nature. This led to the rise of similar games and clones. Nguyen developed the game in two to three days.
147 word summary
Flappy Bird, a 2013 mobile game by Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen, features a bird flying between green pipes. It gained sudden popularity in early 2014, receiving mixed reviews. By January 2014, it was the most downloaded free game in the App Store, earning $50,000 a day. However, it was removed from app stores on February 10, 2014, due to its addictive nature. This led to the rise of similar games and clones. A revised version called Flappy Birds Family was released for Amazon Fire TV in August 2014, and a licensed coin-operated Flappy Bird arcade game was also released. The game involves controlling the bird Faby to navigate through pairs of pipes with equally sized gaps placed at random heights. Nguyen, who grew up near Hanoi, developed the game in two to three days and wanted to create a simpler game for people "always on the move".
347 word summary
Flappy Bird is a 2013 mobile game developed by Vietnamese video game artist and programmer Dong Nguyen. The game features a bird protagonist flying between columns of green pipes without hitting them. It was developed over a few days, using a character from a cancelled game in 2012.
Released in May 2013, Flappy Bird gained sudden popularity in early 2014, becoming a sleeper hit. It received mixed reviews, with some critics finding it too difficult and alleging plagiarism in graphics and game mechanics, while others found it addictive. By the end of January 2014, it was the most downloaded free game in the App Store for iOS, earning $50,000 a day from in-app advertisements and sales.
However, on February 10, 2014, Flappy Bird was removed from both the App Store and Google Play, with Nguyen citing guilt over its addictive nature and overusage. Its sudden removal caused phones with the game installed to be sold for high prices online. Similar games became popular after its removal, leading to the removal of games too similar to the original from app stores.
A revised version called Flappy Birds Family was released for the Amazon Fire TV in August 2014, and a licensed coin-operated Flappy Bird arcade game was also released.
The game involves controlling the bird Faby to navigate through pairs of pipes with equally sized gaps placed at random heights, earning one point for each successful pass. Colliding with a pipe or the ground ends the gameplay.
Nguyen grew up near Hanoi and began coding his own video games at 16. He wanted to create a simpler game for people who are “always on the move” and developed Flappy Bird in two to three days. Originally released on May 24, 2013, it gained popularity after being reviewed by Swedish YouTuber PewDiePie.
Following its removal, numerous remakes and parodies were created, making it one of the most cloned games in Apple's App Store. Over 60 clones per day were appearing at its peak, leading to rejections of games with the word Flappy in the name by Google and Apple.
675 word summary
Flappy Bird is a 2013 mobile game developed by Vietnamese video game artist and programmer Dong Nguyen. The game is a side-scroller where the player controls a bird, attempting to fly between columns of green pipes without hitting them. Nguyen created the game over the period of several days, using a bird protagonist that he had designed for a cancelled game in 2012.
The game was released in May 2013 but received a sudden spike in popularity in early 2014 and became a sleeper hit. Flappy Bird received poor reviews from some critics, who criticized its high level of difficulty and alleged plagiarism in graphics and game mechanics, while other reviewers found it addictive. At the end of January 2014, it was the most downloaded free game in the App Store for iOS. During this period, its developer said that Flappy Bird was earning $50,000 a day from in-app advertisements as well as sales.
Flappy Bird was removed from both the App Store and Google Play on February 10, 2014, with Nguyen claiming that he felt guilty over what he considered to be the game's addictive nature and overusage. Its popularity and sudden removal caused phones with the game installed before its removal to be put up for sale for high prices over the Internet. Games similar to Flappy Bird became popular on the iOS App Store in the wake of its removal, and both Apple and Google have removed games from their app stores for being too similar to the original game.
In August 2014, a revised version of Flappy Bird, called Flappy Birds Family, was released exclusively for the Amazon Fire TV. Bay Tek Games also released a licensed coin-operated Flappy Bird arcade game.
Flappy Bird is an arcade-style game in which the player controls the bird Faby, which moves persistently to the right. The player is tasked with navigating Faby through pairs of pipes that have equally sized gaps placed at random heights. Faby automatically descends and only ascends when the player taps the touchscreen. Each successful pass through a pair of pipes awards the player one point. Colliding with a pipe or the ground ends the gameplay.
Dong Nguyen grew up in Vn Phc, a village near Hanoi. He discovered video games by playing Super Mario Bros. as a child and began coding his own at age 16. At 19, while studying programming at a local university, he won an internship at Punch Entertainment, one of the few video game companies in Vietnam. While using the iPhone, he found that its most popular games such as Angry Birds were too complicated, and wanted to make a simpler game for people who are “always on the move”. Flappy Bird was created and developed by Nguyen in two to three days.
Flappy Bird was originally released on May 24, 2013, with support for the iPhone 5. The game was subsequently updated for iOS 7 in September 2013. Although originally unsuccessful, the game received a massive influx of players after being reviewed by the Swedish YouTuber PewDiePie.
On February 8, 2014, Nguyen announced on Twitter that the game would be removed from both Apple's App Store and Google Play, writing: “I am sorry Flappy Bird users, 22 hours from now, I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore.” Following the removal, many media outlets reported that several merchants on eBay were offering phones which had the app pre-installed for US $1,499 or more.
Flappy Bird received “mixed or average reviews” from critics, holding a Metacritic score of 52/100, based on seven reviews. The app was criticized by the Huffington Post and IGN.
Since its removal, numerous remakes and parodies have been spawned such as Sesame Street's Flappy Bert and Fall Out Boy's Fall Out Bird. Flappy Bird became one of the most cloned games in Apple's App Store. At the peak of its popularity, over 60 clones per day were appearing on the App Store, prompting both Google and Apple to begin rejecting games with the word Flappy in the name.
1378 word summary
Flappy Bird is a 2013 mobile game developed by Vietnamese video game artist and programmer Dong Nguyen under his game development company .Gears. The game is a side-scroller where the player controls a bird, attempting to fly between columns of green pipes without hitting them. The number of green pipes the player passes is considered as their score. Nguyen created the game over the period of several days, using a bird protagonist that he had designed for a cancelled game in 2012.
The game was released in May 2013 but received a sudden spike in popularity in early 2014 and became a sleeper hit. Flappy Bird received poor reviews from some critics, who criticized its high level of difficulty and alleged plagiarism in graphics and game mechanics, while other reviewers found it addictive. At the end of January 2014, it was the most downloaded free game in the App Store for iOS. During this period, its developer said that Flappy Bird was earning $50,000 a day from in-app advertisements as well as sales.
Flappy Bird was removed from both the App Store and Google Play on February 10, 2014, with Nguyen claiming that he felt guilty over what he considered to be the game's addictive nature and overusage. Its popularity and sudden removal caused phones with the game installed before its removal to be put up for sale for high prices over the Internet. Games similar to Flappy Bird became popular on the iOS App Store in the wake of its removal, and both Apple and Google have removed games from their app stores for being too similar to the original game.
In August 2014, a revised version of Flappy Bird, called Flappy Birds Family, was released exclusively for the Amazon Fire TV. Bay Tek Games also released a licensed coin-operated Flappy Bird arcade game.
Flappy Bird is an arcade-style game in which the player controls the bird Faby, which moves persistently to the right. The player is tasked with navigating Faby through pairs of pipes that have equally sized gaps placed at random heights. Faby automatically descends and only ascends when the player taps the touchscreen. Each successful pass through a pair of pipes awards the player one point. Colliding with a pipe or the ground ends the gameplay. During the game over screen, the player is awarded a bronze medal if they reached ten or more points, a silver medal from twenty points, a gold medal from thirty points, and a platinum medal from forty points.
Dong Nguyen grew up in Vn Phc, a village near Hanoi. He discovered video games by playing Super Mario Bros. as a child and began coding his own at age 16. At 19, while studying programming at a local university, he won an internship at Punch Entertainment, one of the few video game companies in Vietnam. While using the iPhone, he found that its most popular games such as Angry Birds were too complicated, and wanted to make a simpler game for people who are “always on the move”. Flappy Bird was created and developed by Nguyen in two to three days. The bird character, Faby, was originally designed in 2012 for a cancelled platform game. The gameplay was inspired by the act of bouncing a ping pong ball against a paddle for as long as possible. Initially the game was significantly easier than it became in the final version, but Nguyen said he found this version to be boring and subsequently tightened up the difficulty.
Flappy Bird was originally released on May 24, 2013, with support for the iPhone 5. The game was subsequently updated for iOS 7 in September 2013. Although originally unsuccessful, the game received a massive influx of players after being reviewed by the Swedish YouTuber PewDiePie. In January 2014, it topped the Free Apps chart in the US and Chinese App Stores and later that month topped the same section of the UK App Store where it was touted as “the new Angry Birds”. It ended January as the most downloaded App on the App Store. The Android version of Flappy Bird was released to the Google Play store on January 30, 2014. In early 2014, Nguyen said in an interview with The Verge that the game was earning around $50,000 a day in revenue through its in-game advertising.
On February 8, 2014, Nguyen announced on Twitter that the game would be removed from both Apple's App Store and Google Play, writing: “I am sorry Flappy Bird users, 22 hours from now, I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore.” He went on to say that taking down the game had “nothing to do with legal issues”. The game was removed from both the App Store and Google Play exactly on time, much to the dismay of many fans. Tuoi Tre News reported from a local technology expert that Flappy Bird's removal could have been due to a legal challenge from Nintendo over perceived visual similarities to the Mario games. This allegation was denied by a Nintendo spokesman to The Wall Street Journal. Lawyers in Vietnam also denied allegations that Nguyen had to remove the game due to violation of laws on Internet use in the country.
Following the removal, many media outlets reported that several merchants on eBay were offering phones which had the app pre-installed for US $1,499 or more, with some receiving bids of over $90,000; however, the listings were removed for violating eBay's rule stating that smartphones must be restored to factory settings before being sold. In an interview with Forbes, Nguyen cited the game's addictive nature for its cancellation, stating: “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.” Nguyen said that the guilt that he felt over the game was affecting his sleep and that his conscience was relieved after he took down the game.
Flappy Bird received “mixed or average reviews” from critics, holding a Metacritic score of 52/100, based on seven reviews. The app was criticized by the Huffington Post, which described it as an “insanely irritating, difficult and frustrating game which combines a super-steep difficulty curve with bad, boring graphics and jerky movement”. IGN gave the game a mediocre score of 5.4 out of 10, quipping that the game is as addictive as it was shallow. Despite criticizing its playability and its “no skill” requirement, IGN noted that the gameplay made it “an addictive short-term distraction” for the casual skill and score-obsessed players.
When questioned at the time by Chocolate Lab Apps, a website for app developers, Nguyen claimed to have used no promotional methods in the marketing of Flappy Bird. He credited the sudden rise in the game's popularity in early 2014 to possibly “luck”. However, online marketer Carter Thomas suspected that the developer had used bots to cause its success. When questioned on this by The Daily Telegraph, Nguyen said that he respected other people's opinions and did not wish to comment, adding, “I'd like to make my games in peace.” When Newsweek inquired about the matter, Nguyen wrote, “If I did fake it, should Apple let it live for months?” The game was criticised by Kotaku for what it claimed was open use of Mario-style graphics, referring to it as “ripped-off art”. It later published a correction, clarifying that the game's green pipe was “a new albeit unoriginal drawing”.
Since its removal, numerous remakes and parodies have been spawned such as Sesame Street's Flappy Bert and Fall Out Boy's Fall Out Bird. Flappy Bird became one of the most cloned games in Apple's App Store. At the peak of its popularity, over 60 clones per day were appearing on the App Store, prompting both Google and Apple to begin rejecting games with the word Flappy in the name.
In conclusion, Flappy Bird was a highly popular mobile game developed by Dong Nguyen that received sudden fame in early 2014 before being removed from app stores due to its addictive nature. The game received mixed reviews from critics but spawned numerous remakes and parodies after its removal.