Flappy Birds to be Removed by Developer

Dong plans to remove his game from the stores due to the social media backlash. He says it has ruined his simple life and rumors state that he has received death threats.

Source

Would you enjoy the mass attention and how would you handle it?

While I hope to have a successful game I would personally never want the MASSIVE attention. I think his developer career is changed forever unless he makes a new alias. Ever game he would publish under the same name would most likely receive the same attention from people looking for Flappy Birds version 2.

Best Regards!

 

Not only Flappy bird @ #1, but he also has Super Ball @ #3, and Shruiken Block @ #17 in Top free apps..

huge success for him

 

Its a marketing ploy to increase attention.

Now the word and story will spread and people will say "did you hear about that one guy that .....".

Someone who has had enough and wants no more attention will silently vanish and not announce it or draw attention to themselves.

Dont be fooled.

 

I downloaded it, and it's a no brainier. It's more of a concentration game than think stuff through. I like it.

Why would anyone send a death threat to this guy?

To be honest, this is all very hard to believe... very unreal.

 

I guess we will see tomorrow. I personally disagree.

If he took it down without any reasoning that would increase the drama even more.

@dogzerx2 Look up Flaapy Bird rage on YouTube.

 

I don't think its fake. The story about someone killing someone else over this game might have something to do with this reaction.

 

That does not surprise me.

Some media outlets doing a witch hunt against his game. Like Kotaku. Or just read the comment sections of the articles about Flappy Bird.
He also made the mistake to tell TheVerge, that he makes 50k a day in Ads with his game. That attracts enviers like there is no tomorrow.

Personally, I grant him his success. He was lucky and that's cool.

 

Too bad every single one of us could make a Flappy Bird clone in 8 hours or less. Darn shame.

 

+1 especially if the 50K a day in ad revenues are close to true.

 

I doubt that he really seeks more attention, with over 50 Million downloads and the money he has already made.

He seems more like a down to earth guy who is truly surprised and overwhelmed with this success.

 

Maybe, but if it were me, I think I'd be celebrating.

 

I'm sure he is grateful. But such success comes also with downsides. Like many haters and thousands of Emails a day. It's not just the money you get.

And if you read his tweets, he obviously doesn't feel very comfortable with the attention he gets. I kind of understand him.

 

I can deal with haters every day of the week. Dealt with far worse without breaking sweat. I'll have that 50k a day please.

 

Anyone having a problem getting a high score in Flappy Bird just needs to watch this video:

 

This is a marketing ploy, this guy is an Asshole. Game Developers get S*** from consumers on a daily basis, death threats are part of the job for AAA devs. I know plenty that have dropped out because of it. This guy is just fishing for attention.

 

I'm with hippocoder.

I'd take the 50k a day and would welcome every Troll and hater; I'd respond to each of them with pleasure.

 

IKR like who cares? In just 20 days you can become a millionaire. In one year, you will have 18 million! That is insane! I would take all that fake internet hate anyday cause in reality, nobody is going to recognize you on the streets and call you out. On top of that, saying that you will take out the game will give you even more hate.

 

I think the lesson to take from all this is that the best business practice is apparently to saturate the market with a flood of cheap games using a sub-week dev cycle, hoping one will randomly gain a completely inexplicable level of success and make you a millionaire. Lots of examples of that, now...


Seriously though, don't do that.

 

Just... wow. So much wrong in so few words!

You say it's an attention seeking ploy while simultaneously acknowledging that it's a true and genuine problem... while simultaneously contributing to it! So... which is it? If AAA devs drop out of the industry all the time why is the same not valid for this fellow? And why add to it?

I don't know if it's real or not, but I'm not going to trash someone based on nothing. He got lucky, his success came with side effects that he doesn't like, he says he'd rather drop out than carry on. I see no reason not to see that as being the case. Believe it or not, money isn't everything to everyone.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

I need a lot of money because I want to spend it on making bigger and more badass games. I don't have an interest in it other than to make better games, or follow creativity. I like to make stuff, thats pleasurable to me.

 

I can't stand this game. Tried hard to play it, can't get past like 2 obstacles before instant death. Totally frustrating and stupid. But either it's because I totally suck at playing this game, or there are a lot of really crazy people out there.

 

Yeah same here imaginaryhuman, game made me pretty frustrated in about thirty seconds. I imagine if that is what your looking for, just an all out difficult and overwhelming game, then its good for you, but I couldn't get into it really. As far as this publicity stunt/possible developer crisis - suck it up and soak it for all its worth - we don't all get the opportunity for such success and if we did, about 99 percent of us would just prolong it till it dropped off on its own. They didn't get into this for positive correspondence from fans did they? I doubt it, they probably did it thinking of making money...

And not that there would be anything wrong with just doing it to get positive feedback.... but you guys get what I mean no? lol

 

I'll believe that when he donates the money. Devs don't make announcements about the hate mail they get.

 

Why should he donate his money? That makes absolutely no sense. He earned it, so he can keep it.

Maybe he simply want to give people the chance to still download his game before he pulls it from the store.. He had already asked the media to leave him alone, long before the current announcement. If I want maximum attention, why would I do that?

And even if it just a marketing ploy, that doesn't make him a "asshole". I doubt you know him personally, to make such bold claims. It's an insult.

I sense some envy in certain posts here. It's disgusting.

 

Some people do, and it has nothing to do with being a dev, it's about being put under unfamiliar pressure. There's not really any point to hating on people in these forums either.

I really do wish some people would grow up and stop passing judgement on others. It's his business, his health, his life; whatever his reasons, they don't need analysing and he doesn't need to be called an Asshole because you suspect an unfounded false positive.

Please stop posting things like this. I enjoy reading these forums and participating when I have the time, but these attitudes are a massive put-off.

 

Haha. I love how you answered none of the questions I asked.

 

"Best" thing I read about it on polygon.com:

It was a really intense thing to watch lately on twitter and some people in this thread confirm the feelings towards the situation. People are people
We shall see what happens. He still has 2 other games that ranked high in the charts. I'm for one am inspired not only by his example but the other things happening this week as well. Now I'm back working on my own game. And occasionally flap that bird !

To the thread OP questions:
Would you enjoy the mass attention and how would you handle it?

I guess at first, I would be flattered, just as flattered as getting a first review, or a first feedback from people I admire. Everything that comes after that, since it would be totaly new to it, I would simply don't know how to react or behave. Maybe just shut out the internet. Then again I would be curious to find out what people do and say. It sounds so easy, but how many of us strive for the (financial) success and how few actually get to experience it. Tough nut

 

Having just released a game that got to number one in the UK sports simulation on iOS, I can understand this guy, I received hundreds of facebook messages a day from players reporting bugs, asking for tips, posting screenshot insulting me. It's definitely an experience my game is nowhere near as popular as his game, can only begin to imagine the nightmare, but it's part of what we do the financial rewards outweigh the hassle. I've just earnt a years salary in a week.

 

@dxcam1: go take a cold swim somewhere, that was totally unecessary. Ur acting like ur mad at him cuz ur kot getting enough attention.

Now, i belive he is legit. He is a normal guy from korea, making these games on his sparetime. This game has brought him MASSIVE attention, online and probably even changed a few of the people around him. This can be incredibly hard on someone who never intended to get there in the first place. He seems very down to earth, and im also certain he has gotten deaththreats.

Take a look at phil fish polytron page, u wont BELIVE what sort of evil comments people can write. It makes me sick, they basicly want him to die. Phil is gone now, seems he kept his word and isnt a developer anymore.

For some people it just becomes enough one day, they just dont WANT that sort of bile in their life, while some of u toughguys up here seems to vave no problem.

 

For 50k a day, I would set up a death threat hotline, where unhappy customers would be welcome to fling death threats at me all day.

This is either a brilliant marketing gimmick
(Create Drama-> Harvest fruits of Drama)

OR

...a case of extreme fluffyness.


Being as I am on the wrong side of 40 myself and thus more cynical than not, I am inclined to believe the former scenario is true.

But we will see which is true soon enough

 

Congratulations! It's sad to hear about the insults tho. But yes it might give you a idea what he experiences right now with more than 50 mil downloads.

*facepalm*

 

I've downloaded flappy birds, my score is 49. So far I think the trick is as simple as to try to flap on the lower left corner of each gap, and don't do the second flap too fast or you'll hit the upper tube. Besides that it's a concentration game.

This reminds me of that one million dollar webpage. Where they'd sell 1 pixel for 1 dollar, and it's a 1000*1000 image, so all pixels sold out, and the guy got a million dollars.

If you can sit and think something that'll catch people's attention, you deserve to succeed with big piles of cash, seriously. But it's like winning the lottery PLUS some work. For most of us, we still want to make a good product, if we want to increase our chances of success.
Or... try to make ugly clones, and be like the other bizillions of developers who try to copy current successes, and make little if zero profit.

Plus, flappy bird is not a terrible game. It's not original, but I think it's nice too look at, simple concept and has people compete against each other.

 

It could be a publicity stunt, but I'm inclined to believe that the developer simply can't cope with the attention and is trying to make it all stop. Imagine an average introverted developer making a game in a few days and suddenly he's got reporters pounding at his door. I'd go a bit crazy, too.

 

If you were making 50k a day I wouldn't give a S*** what anyone said, each day would be a years salary.if you had a year on top you wouldn't have to work ever again just take a vacation while this thing blows over

 

The way I see it:

1) Maybe he's just a normal guy, and weren't expecting to make so much $$$ and people truly sent him death threats, and he's really stressed about someone possibly harming him or his family.

2) He thinks so many frustrated people speaking ill against him is freaking hilarious. And he's going to milk that, by playing the same game and claiming he's been getting too much hate, and going to give away all his money, to multiply the hype, and make even more money.

I hope it's the 2nd.

 

You say that but never underestimate the psychological effects people can have on others. I've heard of plenty of celebrities that can't handle the fame, why not they're getting paid a lot of money right? Money doesn't make everything right.

 

http://huzlers.com/teen-arrested-for-killing-brother-over-flappy-bird-game/

 

I don't go anywhere apart from the gym so they would be very bored unless they like watching me working out

 

Depending on the amount of money, it can do exactly the opposite of making "everything right".

 

Or maybe he doesn't want people found out that his success start from bot and cheating, and he doesn't want to give the money back...

 

Quite possible actually.
Young(?) Introverted Game Developer finds fame and fortune and can't handle it.

Dude obviously had mental problems
EDIT: The site appears to be a hoax news site. Silly me
http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articl...ver-flappy-bird-video-game-chicago-murder.htm

"Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satire news to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief."
Hmmmm........

 

What do you mean "cheating"? Is it even possible to cheat? And if it is, why aren't we doing it?

 

Game devs who constantly complain about "crappy iphone and android games" and worry about the Valve and other indie stores being flooded with crap, are now wanting a piece of the "crappy game with lots of ads and downloads" pie? Where have their principles suddenly gone?

And almost 24 hours later, this "game" is still available for download, no surprise....

 

mokko6, check again, its gone!

 

I can't see why everyone is so up against this dude. He does what he does. He does it well. If the game was bad it wouldn't hit the top 10 in the market without cross game promotions, adds or whatsoever. Too bad he deleted it.

 

That article's fake. Skip down to the end where the police officer working the case starts going homicidal over the game, too.

 

If you get caught, Apple ban you.
It cost several thousand of dollars ( more than 10k at least) if you don't do it yourself.

Every major publisher do it the right way (without bot), by buying a big amount of download for the launch. At least EA do it (and I'm pretty sure every big publisher do it).
If you're a small dev, with a small buget you hope that the game stick on top.
If you're EA, you continu to buy downloads for 2 weeks, and hope it sticks on the top.

Who do you think pay for the advertising ? That's other big dev with a pile of cash to maintain or propul their game at the top.

If you are not at the top, your visibility is near zero.

Even a big article on toucharcade don't give you much visibility.

 

Well looks like its pulled now of the IOS store and even the google store. Wow
http://www.appannie.com/apps/google-play/app/com.dotgears.flappybird/

 

I dont know you have a game like flappy bird that anyone could make in a day and makes 50k a day, but 3 people spends six months on something like armored core and it has hardly any plays.