ANKARA
The creator of the former most popular game on Apple and Google's mobile platforms pulled its plug on Sunday night, claiming it ruins his 'simple life.'
Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen launched his bit-sized arcade game 'Flappy Bird' in May last year. It spiked in popularity after six months with an estimated 50 million total downloads on IOS and Android platforms, earning him an average of US$50,000 a day on in-game advertisement.
Nyugen had tweeted earlier on Saturday he would take the game down since he could not "take this anymore." His announcement was retweeted over 130,000 times.
"It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore," he wrote.
The game features retro 8-bit graphics and involves trying to keep a tiny bird afloat and help it navigate through a course of obstacles. It is said by users and reviewers to be exceedingly difficult, with many beginners unable to keep the bird flying for more than a few seconds.
"'Flappy Bird' is my success but it has also ruined my simple life. So now I hate it", Nyugen said.
He added that he wasn't interested in selling the game but he would continue to make games.
Defining himself as a "passionate indie game maker," Nyugen runs a small developing company called DotGears. Its games boast similar retro-style graphics and the same difficulty curve.
"Our work is heavily influenced by retro pixelated games in its golden age. Everything is pure, extremely hard and incredibly fun to play," DotGears website says.
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