I have a number of colleagues to thank for my Candy Crush Saga obsession. (You know who you are.) A few months and 130 or so levels later and I’m still well and truly hooked. I’m certainly not alone in this, much to the delight of its creator – mobile games maker, King – as the enormous and unprecedented success of Candy Crush has reportedly geared the company for an IPO later this year.
So news of the latest addictive mobile game, Flappy Bird, caught my attention. However, it was not long before the next big thing in addictive gaming was all over. The creator of Flappy Bird, Vietnam-based Doug Nguyen – who created his hit game in just two to three days and was making as much as $50,000 a day in advertising revenue – recently decided to withdraw it from Android and iOS app stores. By which point, Flappy Bird had been downloaded more than 50 million times and was the most popular game of the year so far.
In an exclusive interview with Forbes, he explained his reasoning: “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."
Ironic really, given the amount of people who dream of having a eureka moment that will provide the inspiration for the next lucrative app or gaming craze. But it seems, for this creator, the pressure of responding to fan comments and complaints was ultimately too much, and Mr Dong took to Twitter to announce his decision: "I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore...” Cue the inevitable backlash from its fans, who tweeted their dismay with hastags #RIPFlappyBird and #SaveFlappyBird – or in the case ofsome, even sent Mr Dong death threats... Perhaps not the quiet demise he had hoped for, but Flappy Bird certainly has provided another reminder of the addictive power of mobile gaming.
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