The enigma of a game called Flappy Bird that has seen a rather huge surge in popularity since its release onto Android and iOS isn’t just a mindless, frustratingly difficult, yet somehow addictive game that you downloaded and now probably waste a ridiculous amount of time playing. No, Flappy Bird is much more than that. It’s a pretty big success when it comes to revenues.
For those of you not familiar with this game for some reason, it is a deceptively simple but impossibly difficult little arcade game. Like an endless runner, you’ll be wanting to survive as long as you can. Similar to a game like Super Meat Boy, it’s very difficult and you will die… a lot. All you have to do is tap on the screen to keep your little bird flapping and floating ahead through the air, avoiding coming into contact with the green pipes. If you do hit one, you’re dead and it is time to start over.
In an interview with The Verge, developer Dong Nguyen explains his ideas behind the game’s success, citing that it is something different than most mobile games currently and that it has an ‘easy to compete with friends’ type of gameplay. He also mentions some of his other games he’s released which are also doing pretty good.
The reason Flappy Bird is so popular is that it happens to be something different from mobile games today, and is a really good game to compete against each other. People in the same classroom can play and compete easily because Flappy Bird is simple to learn, but you need skill to get a high score.
He also let out that the game currently pulls in around $50,000 a day in ad revenue which, considering the game was made over the course of a few nights of coding after work, is pretty damn good. As for future updates to Flappy Bird, those won’t be happening at all.
Flappy Bird has reached a state where anything added to the game will ruin it somehow, so I’d like to leave it as is. I will think about a sequel but I’m not sure about the timeline.
Nguyen’s next project will be into the realm of the ‘jetpack’ style of game. If it ends up being as difficult, addictive, popular and fun as Flappy Bird seems to be, workplace productivity around the world may drop drastically.
Website Referenced: The Verge
