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Hit Mobile Game Flappy Bird Launches Crypto-based Comeback

Ten years after the game was pulled from app stores, a new team is reviving the IP, but mainstream media has already written it off.
By: Squiffs • September 17, 2024
Flappy Bird game

The viral mobile game Flappy Bird is being relaunched under new leadership over a decade after it ceased operations in 2014.

The rebooted game will be built in collaboration with Notcoin, a tap-to-earn game built on the Telegram-linked TON blockchain.

Despite the initial excitement over a Flappy Bird revival, enthusiasm has turned to dismay as the gaming community, mainstream media, and even the original Flappy Bird developer have hastily labeled it a scam.

The mobile game went viral in 2013 and 2014, amassing over 50 million downloads according to the BBC, until its founder pulled it from mobile app stores. 

Flappy Bird Screenshot
Flappy Bird Screenshot

Dong Nguyen, the original creator of Flappy Bird, created the game in less than a week, and at its peak, the game was reportedly earning nearly $50,000 per day via advertisements.

The revival is led by the “Flappy Bird Foundation Group,” which purchased the abandoned trademark and rights to the game, with a launch planned for 2025. The new iteration of the game will feature skins, multiple game modes, and potentially a “story mode” for users to try out.

On Sept. 15, Nguyen said, “No, I have no relation with their game. I did not sell anything. I also don't support crypto.”

Gaming content creators have also been quick to jump down the throat of the re-launch, with YouTuber Penguinz0 releasing a video called “Huge Flappy Bird Scam,” which racked up over a million views in less than 24 hours.

Despite the new team’s clarification that the base version of Flappy Bird is “100% free to play and always will be,” most outside of crypto are not having it, and the team’s social media post was quickly “community noted,” saying “This game has no relation to the original creators and seems to be a crypto scam/using fans nostalgia for the game to sell NFTs.”

Our articles are stored on Filecoin.

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