The behind-the-scenes story of Flappy Bird’s return, ten years after the game was voluntarily withdrawn from mobile stores, is intriguing to say the least. The game was apparently ripped out of the hands of its creator, Dong Nguyen, and the new title’s business model is expected to rely on… crypto.
In 2014, a mobile game caused a sensation thanks to its simplicity, but also with its demonic difficulty: Flappy Bird ! Dong Nguyen, the Vietnamese developer of the game, did not expect such success, the title having exceeded 100 million downloads on iOS and Android. But despite this atomic success, the developer decides to remove the game from the Apple and Google stores, explaining that Flappy Bird has ” ruined his simple life “.
The Strange Return of Flappy Bird
Last week, surprise, the game is back! First on the web, then in native applications for iOS and Android next year. This Flappy Bird does not, however, signal Dong Nguyen’s return to business, since the title is published by an organization called the “Flappy Bird Foundation” which wishes to ” preserve intellectual property [du jeu] and extend the Flappy Bird legacy “.
Read Flappy Bird: ten years later, the cult game returns to torment our smartphones
However, doubts quickly emerged about the sincerity of this “foundation”. Security researcher Varun Biniwale dove head first into the website’s code to reveal one of the central characters in this revival: Michael Roberts, head of the 1208 Productions studio, specializing in web3, cryptos and NFTs.
The researcher also discovered numerous references to cryptocurrencies hidden in the website: it seems that Flappy Bird will allow you to earn crypto rewards after connecting to a wallet. One page on the site explains in typical crypto gibberish that “ The legendary Flappy Bird is back and will fly higher than ever on [la blockchain] Solana flying to web3 ” and that ” Flappy Bird now becomes the first open-Source, community-owned Web 2 and Web3 game “.
Michael Roberts’ famous foundation also acquired the rights to Flappy Bird last year from Gametech Holdings LLC, a US company that, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), still owns the IP filed by Nguyen in 2014. In January, the USPTO court ruled against the game’s creator, arguing that he had failed to respond to the office’s advice from last November.
Dong Nguyen, who has kept a low profile since his game was retired a decade ago, posted a short statement over the weekend saying he had no connection to the new game, had not sold anything to anyone, and did not endorse crypto.
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Source :
IGN
