Flappy Bird is being pulled down by owner in under 7 hours (update)

Flappy Bird, the number one android and iOS game is being pulled down in a matter of hours by the owner. Dong Nguyen announced on twitter that he will be pulling down the difficult game because he “cannot take this anymore”.

I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

The cheeky mobile game, which is now a victim of it’s own success, has a reputation of being frustratingly difficult and yet uses simple, minimal controls. The whole aim of the game is to control a highly unstable bird as it tries to navigate through pipes. The controI mechanism is simply to tap on the screen. Tapping in quick succession will see the bird ascend but any halt in tapping, the bird will free fall and end your game.

I can promise you, after say 10 attempts your high scores will be somewhere between 0-5 if you are new to it. Personally I have had Flappy Birds for a fews days and, well, I prefer to keep my highest score private.

Do date, Flappy Bird has been downloaded 50 million times since iOS launch in May and the Android launch in January. The creator of Flappy Bird told The Verge that the game racks in $50,000 a day in add revenues.

So what exactly has Dong Nguyen had enough of?

You may be interested to know that Flappy Bird is the subject of a copyright dispute relating to another game called Piou Piou vs. Cactus. Dong Nguyen however denies that the decision to pull the plug on the game has anything to do with the legal issues surrounding it.

Another possible explanation as to why why the game is being pulled is that Dong Nguyen has been the victim of a lot of internet hate speech directed at him and his creation. Since its launch, Flappy Bird has been criticised by a minority for being too difficult, irritating and frustrating. Because of these criticisms, Dong Nguyen apparently now hates the game for the attention that it has drawn to his “simple life”.

Update: it’s gone!