Flappy Bird Too Addictive Says Creator

Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen is speaking out about his decision to take down the hugely popular game at the height of its popularity this weekend. In an exclusive interview with Forbes, Nguyen maintains that Flappy Bird’s deletion from Google Play and iOS app stores had nothing to do with rumored threats from Nintendo and was instead motivated by his belief that the game had become addictive for its many users.  

“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” Nguyen told Forbes in his first interview since taking down the app. “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.”

There you have it: Flappy Bird was taken down because its creator felt it was too addictive. To put Nguyen’s act of altruism into perspective, The Verge reported earlier that Flappy Bird generated about $50,000 per day in ad revenue, which the developer will now forego in order to serve the public interest.

Going forward, Nguyen says he is glad to put Flappy Bird behind him and is looking forward to developing new titles. In the meantime, he has several other games selling well in the iOS app store, including Super Ball Juggling and Shuriken Block. Like Flappy Bird, both are free.

For those who missed the game while it was still available and are still itching to try it, we reported yesterday that there are still a number of ways to play and download Flappy Bird for both iOS as well as Android. In addition, a number of Flappy Bird clones, like FlappyDoge and Ironpants, are also available, and some even boast an endorsement from Nguyen.

“I have tried playing Ironpants,” he told Forbes. “It’s a good game.”