The Rise and Fall of the (In)famous Dong Nguyen

A tale of success, defeat, and pipes

“Flappy Bird.” The mere name sends some into PTSD-like fits of fear and anger. The most popular game on the app store, “Flappy Bird” is nothing short of incredible in both its simplicity and success. Or was, I should say, becuase if you’re in the loop as far as satanic mobile games go, you’ll know that the creator of the game, Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen, took it off the app store because he “couldn’t take it any more.” “It” being the massive amounts of publicity and attention his game was getting. But for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, and those who would like to get a closer look at the rise of a true giant in the mobile gaming industry, get out from the rock you’ve been living under, and listen closely.

Nguyen first came up with the concept of “Flappy Bird” in late 2012, and tweeted a screenshot of the game, then titled “Flap Flap,” on April 29, 2013. “New simple game.” tweeted Nguyen, “Flap Flap”. In May of the same year, he changed that app’s name to “Flappy Bird.” “Flappy Bird” hit the app store on May 24, 2013, and Nguyen ushered in the new game with a tweet of his highest score, 44. The game wasn’t really famous at the time, and was hardly mentioned on social media, except for by Nguyen himself. The first tweet about the game not by Nguyen was from a Twitter user by the name of Alexiss. “F**k Flappy Bird” it read simply. Those three solemn words, spoken out of anger at the game’s difficulty, served not only as the app’s first mention on Twitter by someone other than Nguyen, but also as a harbinger for things to come, a herald of empty social lives and sleepless nights.

On Dec. 3, the game was ranked 395 in the United States, and Nguyen announced a Google Play version coming soon. On Jan. 10, 2014, the game made it onto the U.S. top 10 apps listed, carried to the top by five star reviews and extremely angry tweets.

One of the most shocking things about “Flappy Bird” was that it was completely promoted by word of mouth. Nguyen did confirm that he did not promote the game at all other than through his tweets, and the tweets of other people who bought the game. It was around this time that Nguyen started receiving tweets from other small developers in the hopes of learning his secret to success. Nguyen stated he knew nothing, stating the game’s success was entirely based of organic growth, and that his other two games, “Shuriken Block” and “Super Ball Juggling,”  hadn’t sold nearly as well.

The number of tweets focused at Nguyen, either in rage or in awe, started to pile up, and Nguyen repeatedly stated that this was far more than he expected, and that he did not know how the game became so successful, and could people please stop asking him. And then, on one fateful day, Nguyen posted his famous tweet. His “resignation” consisted of four short tweets, stating that he “could not take it anymore.” Nguyen’s explanation was brief and still left a lot of questions in the minds of his heartbroken followers “It’s nothing related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it up anymore. I also don’t sell flappy bird, and I still make games.” “Flappy Bird,” the game that ripped lives and phones asunder, was gone.

Flappy Bird’s rapid rise, fall and the number of ripoffs it inspired, all of which have made it very high up the charts, truly speaks for the power of the people in a game’s development. Now anything with “flappy” in its title has instantly become a hit, as the masses attempt to fill the void in their lives left by the departure of a game we all hated. At it’s peak, Flappy Bird was making $50,000 a day from ads, and made top 100 in multiple countries. It turned an indie game developer from Vietnam into a worldwide star, and caused hundreds of iPhones to be thrown against walls in anger. And then, it vansihed, with almost no warning.  To this day, people post reviews on Nguyen’s other apps, begging for him to re-release Flappy Bird. But it seems that everyone’s (least) favorite little yellow bird…fish…thing may be gone forever.

 

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