Games

Where did Flappy Bird go?

66

The meteoric rise of the game Flappy Bird has eerily played out like the game itself: with a quick and abrupt ending that left Flappy Bird crashing into the ground. The game enjoyed a sudden spike of interest so large that it was generating $50k in revenue each day despite limited advertising.

But now the game is gone. And probably for good. (Formerly located here)

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The app’s creator could not take the attention that his game’s success brought, and in a very Chris Crockerish moment, had a Twitter meltdown pronouncing the game’s upcoming removal (“Leave Flappy Bird alooone!”). He’s made good on that promise… the game is now gone from the Google Play Store.

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With the game gone from the Google Play Store, the small list of people who missed out on the game will be wondering where to download Flappy Bird considering its official absence. We assume an unofficial .apk will pop up on forums and elsewhere, and there are already some shameless copycat games hoping to fill the void.

However, our recommendation is much different: just forget Flappy Bird exists. It’s a tale we’ll remember for years, but the clamor and hubbub have peaked, it’s really not worth all this noise. And for that, maybe the game’s author is smarter than we think. After all, even after removing it form the Google Play Store, he’ll be raking in the revenue every time someone opens up the game to play.

For the record, my high score is a miserable 19. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get going, the weekend is almost over and I swore on my life I would reach 20.

Update: It appears you can still download Flappy Bird for Windows Phone

Rob Jackson
I'm an Android and Tech lover, but first and foremost I consider myself a creative thinker and entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for ideas of all sizes. I'm a sports lover who cheers for the Orange (College), Ravens (NFL), (Orioles), and Yankees (long story). I live in Baltimore and wear it on my sleeve, with an Under Armour logo. I also love traveling... where do you want to go?

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66 Comments

  1. strange… I just saw this on twitter and could still download it from the play store.

    1. You most likely were using the secret code of FBGT.

      1. It’ll be in the next init.t ROM nightly

  2. Nobody knows why but it still isn’t gone for me, too – I guess it’s just a matter of time. Also, I’ve got an APK backup of the game, but only for private use.

    I fully respect Dong’s decision.

    1. I try to ignore my dong’s decisions most of the time. doesn’t always lead to good results.

      1. oops, read that wrong

    2. Gotta respect the Dong

  3. So she he shuts down the game, still rakes in money, and won’t support the game any longer. That’s not very cool at all…

    1. he can stop people from downloading. but he can’t stop them from playing. (unless he built some kind of self destruct code into it)

    2. His prerogative. Do you suggest it would be “cooler” for him to abstain from taking any of the money the app earns from now on?

    3. You should demand your money back.

  4. My guess is this is all just a ploy to get more people to hurry up and download it. And soon he’ll be releasing some sort of update or second version that is more monetizing. Or he’s selling it to Zynga and they’ll royally screw it up.

    1. Your guess is that the game being removed from the store is a ploy to get people to download it.

      Let’s ponder that for a minute.

    2. He lives in Vietnam. That amount of money just made him a HUGE target.

  5. the game is still in the playstore

  6. With a high score of 3 I feel I’m an expert on this game now and can say it’s worth the hype.

    1. I’m now a God among mere peasants. I doubled my score to 6!

      I now know all the answers to the Universe. I can’t explain them to you. You simply won’t understand.

  7. Just installed Flappy Bird about a week ago. Managed to get a top score of 78, and then I lost interest.

    This is a mysterious turn of events, but meh. Nothing Earth-shattering.

  8. Here you are folks. Flap it up. http://adf.ly/dLZ55

    1. How NICE of you to try and get money from clicks on an ad link.

      1. Yes, because making money is a terrible thing

        1. EARNING money is awesome; making money on someone else’s work is, in fact, a terrible thing.

      2. Do you want the apk or not?

        1. Uh, no. I don’t care for Flappy Bird. Especially after watching others get annoyed by it really quickly because they get hung up on one level.

  9. Beat me I got 137.

    1. 174 so…yeah…

  10. good riddance

  11. This is funny

  12. the creator probably couldn’t handle all the cyber-human interaction after years of seclusion in his parent’s basement. Oh well, he has made a ton of money off of Flappy Bird already, so he’s set for a LONG time. Maybe now he can get his own place.

    1. There’s plenty of companies he could have hired to deal with that side of it for him. Or he could have just left the internet for a couple months & had a good time with all his money. When he came back, everybody would have forgotten about it anyways.

      1. That’s what I would do

      2. Maybe, but still you don’t know why.

  13. Its not gone its still listed……….

  14. @ChrisChavez I use windows phone…that Flappy bird is not the actual Flappy bird game, though it works better than the original ironically.

    1. Are you trying to interwebically summon Chris Chavez to chat with you? LOL this is hilarious. Let’s see if he responds…

      1. I am not sure how or why it was “hilarious”. I guess you have an easy sense of humor. I wasn’t sure if tagging him that way would work and I was unsure if that was a dig at Windows phone/Flappy bird or was it that he was unaware that it wasn’t the real game.

        You can scale the passive-aggressiveness back a dial, rob :)

  15. Kind of a conceited move on his part. Will anyone ever want to download one of his games again knowing that his first successful game was deleted barely a month ?
    He could have sold it, sucked it up and raked in the cash, or released it open source, but instead he’s a drama queen. I hope he doesn’t think people are going to forget it. The internet is forever.

  16. Probably some kind of malware buried in it.

  17. Guy’s an idiot. I don’t think this has ever happened before.

  18. Look like he forgot all about Windows Phone. Just like everyone else.

    1. LOL BUUUUUURN

    2. Forgot about what?

    3. What’s Windows?

  19. Seeing that NONE of you know the exact reason it’s been pulled down, you can’t really justify calling him all these names and judging.

    1. Seems the reason is the developer’s anxiety issues. It’s easy to point a finger and make fun, but it’s also a dangerous thing to trivialize. Some people don’t deal with attention well and aren’t comfortable with the spotlight.

      We’ve seen plenty of celebrities crumble under pressure: Britney Spears, Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, David Hasslehoff, etc… and these are people not only better equipped to deal with the spotlight but people who sought it out.

      Thanks for the comment. It’s good to have some balance and perspective here.

  20. Cool he made so much money off of it but no interest in this game anyway.

  21. Look at all of this marketing and attention he’s getting from this.

  22. I think it was a perfectly navigated PR. Ever since the beginning of its crashing success, I thought something was tricky about Flappy Bird. Nevertheless, whether we will ever find out what really happened, it was definitely the most interesting app store phenomenon of the year.

  23. i respect his decision because i don’t know him or what he is going through. I had a similar thing happen to me a few years back with a website i ran. Now it was no where near the magnitude of what he has created but it was enough to scare me once people got my personal information and started threatening me.

  24. there is a rumor that Dong Nguyen committed suicide.any credible source to this? search twitter/ instagram and it’s everywhere.

  25. It’s still on there for me.

  26. game creator has deleted this game and there is no possibility to download it but it just so happens that I have this game and i can to present you podzielićtu you have a link to a free download: http://www.shar-m.com/download/1/8072000/FlappyBird

  27. Umm… is this a joke? The game is still on the play store. I just checked after reading this. That was a letdown cause that game is extremely dumb and i was happy to hear it was gone.

    1. Guess it wasn’t. A joke with a follow up post for yhe apk

  28. I had downloaded the game before so it was still in My Apps ALL tab. But it’s gone from the TOP FREE APPS. The number of clones and variations of this app is incredible.

    1. Yup, that worked. Thanks, except now I have this horrible game on my phone again. Arrgghh!

  29. Here is the apk for anybody who wants it, go ahead share it. https://www.dropbox.com/s/8j4ddrn0wts07jx/com.dotgears.flappybird_1.3.apk

  30. Hey I have the APK version and the iTunes version on my website at http://pptvgames.yolasite.com/flappy-bird.php

  31. Easiest way to install flappy bird here http://www.flappybirdhowto.com/. You can try web version here http://www.flappybirdhowto.com/play

  32. I played hardcore game like Flappy Bird before, its named Fluffy Ball (not clone, but similar hardcore)… better graphics, with campaign etc. I recommended everyone who is crying to Flappy Bird.

    gameplay video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1VK_sBmjw

    googlePlay https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.geardice.FluffyBall

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