The Flappy Bird Foundation Group, made up of “a team of passionate Flappy Bird fans,” 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 bird’s flight between rows of green pipes without touching them by touching the screen. 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 argued that the gameplay was addictive.
On February 10, 2014, Flappy Bird was removed by the developer from the App Store and Google Play. According to Nguyen, he did this out of guilt towards the players who had become addicted to Flappy Bird. Immediately after the removal of the original game, many clones appeared in app stores, trying to take advantage of its success, because at the peak of its popularity, Nguyen was earning up to $50,000 a day through 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 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 Flappy Bird’s creator is involved in the planned relaunch. Journalists from The Verge approached Nguyen with a request to comment on the situation, but did not receive a response in time. Nguyen’s account on social network X and his company’s website have not been updated for 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.” Flappy Bird’s new website gives a sneak peek at what players can expect, like a rival mode where you can challenge 99 other players, or flying birds between basketball hoops. New characters like Penguin the penguin and Quirkie the unicorn bird have been announced.
