By Abbey Knupp

On May 23, 2013, Dong Nguyen released the app Flappy Bird to the iTunes application store. At the beginning of 2014, the app flapped to the top of the iTunes and Android app charts. Comments surged through popular social media sites (such as Reddit, Tumblr, and Twitter), complaining about the game’s high difficulty and lack of ingenuity, though the number of downloads continued to increase and the world quickly grew addicted to Flappy Bird. However, the success was short-lived. Nguyen pulled Flappy Bird from the app store on February 9, 2014, after cryptically tweeting, “I cannot take this anymore.”

Flappy Bird created quite a controversy in the app world. Despite its clunky graphics, closely resembling those of the Nintendo Super Mario genre since the user simply flies a bird through green pipes, and frustrating gameplay, Flappy Bird pushed towards the top of the iTunes charts to the surprise of many game critics. The success can be partly attributed to the infamy that the game received. For two weeks, negative comments about the app circulated through the web, inadvertently advertising the app.

Nguyen has not publicly stated the reason that the app was pulled from the app store, though he has assured news outlets that the reason is not legal. He states that the app has become an “addictive product” that is causing “a problem.” Even if the game was causing problems by eating up the free time of the general public, Flappy Bird was causing no problems for Nguyen’s wallet. The app was grossing $50,000 a day from advertisements.

Since Flappy Bird was pulled from the app store, many other variations have surfaced, all with similar gameplay, a different character, and a different name. However, Flappy Bird still continues to circulate online. Phones that downloaded the app before it was pulled from the iTunes store can still run the game. To capitalize on that loophole, many people have sold their phones with the Flappy Bird app online for large price tags.

Flappy Bird is only one in a series of addicting apps that have rocketed to the top of the iTunes charts within the past year, absorbing the free time (and sanity) of the public, and it certainly won’t be the last.