The Mystery Behind Flappy Bird: Why isn’t the Game Available on Google Play

by Popa Loredana · Published February 12, 2014 · Updated February 22, 2014

As we have previously discussed, Flappy Bird is no longer available on Google Play. For those of you who haven’t heard the latest news, here we are to remind you that Flappy Bird is the latest mobile gaming success that has managed to dominate not only Google Play app stores, but also the iOS before its removal. And the one who took this decision is none other than his developer Dong Nguyen. Everyone is curious to find out the mystery behind the Flappy Bird story, given the fact that the this game was generating around $50,000 a day just from adds, not to mention that it had been downloaded over 50 million times. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?

Just a Primitive Game

Flappy Bird is just a primitive game, even by the standards of basic smartphone games. As you probably know, you play the role of a bird character as it flies through the gaps between vertical some pipes that are almost similar to those from Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros game.

The Mystery behind Flappy Bird

And even the funny bird looks as it has been taken from the classic Tiny Wings mobile game. But could this resemblance actually be behind its removal?

Not Nintendo’s Decision

According to the latest rumors, Flappy Bird’s fans all over the world should blame Nintendo for this strange removal, while Nguyen could even face a copyright lawsuit in Vietnam. But Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the company hasn’t complained at all about Flappy Bird’s similarities to their original Super Mario Bros, so Nintendo has nothing to do with this decision.

So, although the company doesn’t usually comments on the rumors and speculations, this time was an exception. And as our source stated, even the developer has denied all those claims, expressing the frustration about the addictive nature of his Flappy Bird game.

So, could this be the real reason that determined Dong Nguyen to take such an action and not an issue with Nintendo? We might never know for sure! We only know that Nguyen said he is not interested in selling it, so we won’t ever see the game back unless he changes his mind.