Why Flappy Bird was killed: game creator explains

Speaking in an interview with Forbes, Flappy Bird creator, 29-year-old Vietnamese Dong Nyugen explained why he decided to pull the hugely popular game from mobile app stores.

The bottom line: Nyugen believed it was becoming a harmfully addictive product and he didn’t like that.

“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,” he told Forbes.

Nyugen also said that his life hasn’t been the same comfortable affair he was used to prior to the game’s success. From this I infer that his noble conscience to protect gamers from an addictive product, coupled with the media blitz around the game’s success (reportedly earning him $50,000 per day), had become too much for him to handle.

Nyugen said “my life has not been as comfortable as I was before. I couldn’t sleep. I don’t think it’s a mistake. I have thought it through.”

Adding to the stress, following his announcement of the removal of the game from the iOS and Android app stores, Nyugen was flooded with death-threats through Twitter. He denies that there were legal claims against the game (Nintendo has just denied the rumour they issued a legal threat). Nyugen does not intend to take legal action against the flood of Flappy Bird clones that have appeared.

Nyugen will still be involved in game development, and currently has two popular games on app stores: Super Ball Juggling and Shuriken Block. “After the success of Flappy Bird, I feel more confident, and I have freedom to do what I want to do,” said Nyugen.