Every once in a while, a piece of gaming industry news can genuinely shock you. This is one of those stories. Remember Flappy Bird?
It was announced today that the addictive, simple mobile game that went viral in early 2014 will be revived next year. After a group of fans called the Flappy Bird Foundation Group acquired the rights to the game, Flappy Bird will arrive in 2025 on iOS and Android, along with web browsers.
“It’s been a decade-long, convoluted journey to get here, but we’re so excited to finally begin sharing Flappy Bird once again with the world,” a spokesperson for the Flappy Bird Foundation said. Michael Roberts, the chief creative behind Flappy Bird’s return, added, “We are beyond excited to be bringing back Flappy Bird and delivering a fresh experience that will keep players engaged for years to come. We have big plans for our little Bird!”
After Flappy Bird exploded 10 years ago with over 100 million downloads, the game’s developer, Dong Nguyen, removed it from stores, citing the overwhelming attention pressure from its success as the reason.
“I am sorry Flappy Bird users, 22 hours from now, I will take Flappy Bird down,” Nguyen said on Feb. 8, 2014. “I cannot take this anymore.”
The game was so immensely popular that phones with the game still installed on them were being sold on eBay for high prices. For those of us old enough to remember, it was a really wild time in the gaming world.
“Today is a milestone not just in gaming but for me personally,” Kek, the developer of Piou Piou, said, which inspired the original Flappy Bird. “It’s so cool to see how influential Piou Piou has been for developers and hundreds of millions of gamers over the years. It’s incredible to work alongside such a dedicated team of fans and creators who are truly passionate about changing the industry narrative and together bringing the original Flappy Bird back to life.”
Flappy Bird spawned many copycats over the years, but there’s only one bird who is truly flappy. And soon enough, it will flap again.
