In February of 2014—over ten years ago!—the most popular mobile game in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store suddenly disappeared. Flappy Bird, which had taken the world by storm and was practically printing money, had been taken down. It was a shocking and bizarre moment in the history of video games. The game, which was reportedly making $50,000 / day, was no more. All that money and all that fame were simply too much for its creator, Dong Nguyen.
“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” Nguyen told Forbes at the time. “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.”
When Nguyen first revealed he would be taking the game down, he also said he wouldn’t sell the app. A decade later, that appears to have changed. According to a press release, The Flappy Bird Foundation has acquired the rights to the game and more:
The Flappy Bird Foundation, a new team of passionate fans committed to sharing the game with the world, has spearheaded the acquisition of the official trademark. Additionally, they have acquired the rights for the original game and character from Piou Piou vs. Cactus, the mobile title that originally inspired the iconic bird. Future Flappy Bird releases will debut new game modes, characters, progression, and massive multiplayer challenges.
They’ve released this trailer to announce the return of the bird:
This means that Flappy Bird has come back from the dead before George R.R. Martin finished The Winds Of Winter and before Rockstar Games released GTA6, not to mention Valve not having released anything of note that isn’t VR or hardware in about the same timeframe (Counter-Strike 2 is great, but it’s mostly an overhauled Global Offensive). Will wonders never cease?
The new version of Flappy Bird will be greatly expanded from the original, though it’s unclear how expansive the new release will be or what kind of monetization it will use to generate revenue. The first iterations of the return of Flappy Bird will land in Q3 of 2024, with App Store and Google Play Store releases coming in 2025. I suppose this was bound to happen sooner or later.
