February 9, 2014

1 min read

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Bye-bye Flappy Bird -- popular game grounded by its creator

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Attempts to download Flappy Bird at Apple's App Store result in a message that the game is unavailable.


(Credit:
Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)

Flappy Bird was removed from app stores on Sunday, just hours after its creator warned that the popular game's demise was nigh.

The free smartphone game for iOS and Android took the mobile market by storm, reportedly earning $50,000 in ad revenue each day. Flappy Bird had been download upwards of 50 million times and earned 47,000 reviews on the App Store.

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After Flappy Bird secured the No. 1 spot on the App Store and Google Play Store late last month, several media outlets attempted to explain our fascination with the ad-based tapping game, which sported a pixelated art style inspired by Super Mario Bros. However, all that attention proved too much for Dong Nguyen, the app's creator.

Nguyen tweeted Saturday that he would remove the game from the app stores on Sunday, saying that he was overwhelmed by the game's success:

Nguyen went on to tweet that he would continue to make games but that Flappy Bird was not for sale. The Hanoi-based game maker is reportedly working on a simple take of the jetpack endless runner, made popular by games like Jetpack Joyride.

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