The Spirit Of Flappy Bird Lives On: Introducing ‘Flappy Doge’
Such flaps! Much rebirth! Many pipes!
Over the weekend, mankind experienced a great loss: the death of Flappy Bird.
After its birth in May 2013 and a first few months spent in near-obscurity, Flappy Bird’s rise this year was meteoric. By February, it had been downloaded 50 million times and hit #1 on the iPhone and Android charts, with Dong Nguyen – the 29-year-old creator of the game — taking in $50,000 a day from ad revenue.
But then, just as suddenly, came its demise. On Monday this week, Nguyen announced he was shutting it down, and pulling the game from the App stores.
“I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users,” he tweeted. “22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.”
He was re-tweeted 143,000 times.
Reasons for the sudden move (and the ensuing misery of Flappy Bird addicts) have been varied.
Forbes is reporting that Flappy Bird was taken down for legal reasons, surrounding the games’ likeness to the Super Mario Brothers games. Cynics have called the sudden pull a marketing stunt, driving millions to download it in its final hours. But the Bird’s creator cited stress as the motivator.
I can call ‘Flappy Bird‘ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
Much Tunnel; Such Light
Flappy Bird taught us some great life skills: how to suppress our rage mode; how to persevere with seemingly impossible goals; determination in the face of frustration.
Many have recognised the contribution the game made to our lives, before being so prematurely wrenched from our grasp. Nick Statt from CNet said, “Flappy Bird is the embodiment of our descent into madness”, while The Atlantic‘s Ian Bogost will remember it as “a condition of the universe”; “A stain like our own miserable, tiny existences as players, which we nevertheless believe are more fundamental than the existence of bird flapping games or machine screws or the cold fog rising against the melting snow in the morning”.
Rather than curling up in the foetal position, losing whole nights of sleep mulling over why or how this disaster occurred, the guys at DogeTek have created a remedy: a Doge version of the frustrating yet beloved game.
You can play Flappy Doge here. You’re welcome.
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Katie Booth is Junkee’s new editorial intern, based in Sydney and studying Media and Communications. Her love/hate relationship with Hannah Horvath is ongoing, and she tweets @kboo2344