The Flappy Bird Foundation Group, a company made up of a “team of passionate fans” of Flappy Bird, said it has acquired the rights to the iconic mobile game and plans to relaunch it on Android and iOS in 2025.
Image source: flappybird.org
Flappy Bird is an arcade game for iOS and Android mobile devices developed by Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen, in which the user must control the flight of a bird between rows of green pipes by touching the screen without touching them. It was released on May 24, 2013, and at the end of January 2014, it became the most downloaded free game in the App Store. The project was criticized for its difficult gameplay, but many reviewers claimed that the gameplay is addictive.
On February 10, 2014, Flappy Bird was removed from the App Store and Google Play by its developer. According to Nguyen, he did this out of guilt towards players who had become addicted to Flappy Bird. Immediately after the removal of the original game, many clones appeared in app stores, seeking to take advantage of its success, because at the peak of its popularity, Nguyen earned up to $50,000 a day from in-game advertising.
Nguyen later expressed interest in relaunching the game, but Apple’s App Store rules prevented him from doing so, as developers lose the rights to an app’s name when they delete it, and cannot relaunch it under the same name if another developer uses it.
It is unclear whether the creator of Flappy Bird is involved in the planned reboot. The Verge reached out to Nguyen for comment but did not receive a response in time. Nguyen’s X account and his company’s website have not been updated in a long time. The Flappy Bird Foundation says it acquired the rights to the game from Gametech, a company not affiliated with Nguyen.
While the new game will feature the original bird, future updates will add additional game modes, characters, and “massive multiplayer challenges.” new Flappy Bird website gives a glimpse of what players can expect, such as a rival mode where you can challenge 99 other players, or launching birds between basketball hoops. New characters like Peng the penguin and Quirky the unicorn bird have been announced.
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