by Nick Dowell
This last weekend, the most recent mobile game fad, “Flappy Bird,” was taken off of the iPhone and Android app stores. On Saturday, he announced on Twitter that he was going to take the game down, stating that he “cannot take this anymore.” He went on to say that it wasn’t for legal reasons, leaving people to assume that it was because of the constant press he was receiving.
But what's more interesting is the way people are reacting to the game's removal. Several stories have gone
into circulation today about how people are responding.
The game’s creator,
Dong Nguyen, has begun receiving
death threats and suicide threats on Twitter.
“YOU BEST NOT BE DELETING FLAPPY BIRD BECAUSE I WILL MURDER
YOU IF U DO,” wrote one Twitter user. Another user wrote “I’ll find you and
I’ll kill you.”
One user went so far as to take a
picture of herself with a gun in her mouth threatening to kill herself if the
game wasn’t brought back. She later tweeted that it was a joke, but it gives an
idea of the attention Nguyen didn’t want when he went to Twitter.
Another response to the game being taken down is people
selling mobile devices with the game installed on eBay for very large sums of
money (from hundreds to thousands of dollars). Accordingto the LA Times, one iPhone’s auction price soared up to $99,000.
Some rumors have circulated as to why the game has been
taken down. According to Nguyen, it was to avoid the constant press he’d been
receiving. Some others have said that it was for legal issues, as the pipes in
the game looked similar to the pipes used in the Super Mario franchise. While
Nguyen said there were no legal reasons, two friends of his said that Nintendo
had sent him a warning letter. Nintendo later said that it was not
considering a lawsuit.
Despite the app being taken off the app store, the game
exists on devices that already had the game installed, meaning Nguyen is
still receiving ad revenue from those who play it. This money adds to the
$50k Nguyen made daily from the game when it reached the height of its
popularity.
UPDATE: Nguyen has recently come out and said he took the game down because it was addictive.
UPDATE: Nguyen has recently come out and said he took the game down because it was addictive.
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Photo Credits:
"Game Over" picture to guardianlv.com
