Flappy Bird Scandal Its Original Creator Did Not Participate in the Game's Remake Project
The original creator of the short-lived mobile game Flappy Bird , Dong Nguyen, has distanced himself from the group claiming he is bringing the game back after a decade-long hiatus, and some online hints suggest it may have ties to cryptocurrencies.
Dong Nguyen posted on September 15 for the first time since 2017 to denounce the company for planning to re-release the 2013 game earlier this year.
On September 13, a company calling itself The Flappy Bird Foundation said it would re-release the game, stating in a post on the X website that it would require them to "obtain the legal rights and even work with the previous game" to release the game.
“I didn’t sell anything,” Nguyen wrote, adding that he had nothing to do with the game. “I don’t support cryptocurrencies either.”
The Flappy Bird Foundation said it has acquired the rights to Flappy Bird from Gametech Holdings LLC.
Gametech filed an opposition to Nguyen's Flappy Bird trademark last year and won the rights in January after the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruled that Dong Nguyen had abandoned it and ended his claim.
Flappy Bird, released in May 2013, was a side-scrolling mobile game where players tapped their phone screen to guide a bird through gaps in green pipes, with the score determined by the number of pipes they managed to pass through.
In early 2014, it became a huge success and was the most downloaded game on the App Store, with Dong Nguyen claiming it was generating $50,000 per day.
In 2014, Dong Nguyen abruptly pulled the game (nine months after its release and at the height of its popularity), posting on X that he "couldn't stand it anymore". He later told Forbes that he retired because it was "an addictive game".
Since then, Dong Nguyen has kept a low profile. In fact, he hasn’t tweeted since 2017, until his latest post, denying any involvement with the new Flappy Bird game. Now, it remains to be seen what will happen with this game, if there will be any changes in development, or if they will keep it active after these types of issues are revealed.