'Flappy Bird' earns $50,000 per day in ad revenue for its creator

Shawn Knight

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Flappy Bird, the hit smartphone game that seemingly came out of nowhere to take the mobile world by storm, is bringing in $50,000 in ad revenue per day for its creator. That’s nothing compared to the $850,000 per day haul for Candy Crush Saga developer King but when you consider the game was uploaded close to a year ago and was last updated in September, it’s extremely impressive.

If you aren’t in the know, Flappy Bird is an overly simple mobile game that somehow manages to be extremely difficult – part of its lure, no doubt. To play, gamers simply tap the screen to keep a pixilated bird in flight as it attempts to pass through a series of Mario-esque green warp pipes. Each pair of pipes you successfully navigate past earns you a point.

What’s so hard about that?

There’s no real way to convey just how difficult the game is without trying it for yourself. I’ve collectively invested a couple of hours over the past week play and have managed a high score of just 17.

The Mario look and feel isn’t sheer coincidence. Developer Dong Nguyen said the game’s mechanics are inspired by Nintendo titles he played as a child. The game’s bird was influenced by Cheep Cheeps, the fish that first appeared in the underwater levels in Super Mario Bros. The same can be said about the green warp pipes.

Nguyen said he doesn’t plan to change any aspect of Flappy Bird as doing so might somehow ruin it. A sequel, however, is something he is still thinking about.

If you want to give Flappy Birds a try, download it here.

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Popularity of such games is a great indicator of just how dumb your average user is. This is the most pointless waste of time out there.
 
This game is basically the old flash game helicopter from a decade ago but on mobiles, how did this become popular now?
 
It is irresponsible and wrong for a person to create such a useless mindless waste of time, and make so much money off of it. Wish I would have thought of it first!!!
 
Popularity of such games is a great indicator of just how dumb your average user is. This is the most pointless waste of time out there.

There exists a video game that isn't a pointless waste of time?
 
Popularity of such games is a great indicator of just how dumb your average user is. This is the most pointless waste of time out there.

There exists a video game that isn't a pointless waste of time?

Tons of them
Every mmorpg requires you to learn some math and teaches you management and a whole host of other things.
There is a lot of stuff you learn from video games if you don't play braindead console or mobile games but actual good old fashioned PC games.
 
GTA 5. Dota 2. Counter Strike.

GTA5: Perform imaginary tasks for imaginary money to buy imaginary goods.
Dota 2: Same thing, more imagination.
Counter Strike: Perform imaginary ops for imaginary achievements for imaginary prestige.

When having a luxury apartment in a fake city or a medal for winning a staged battle starts getting people dates and job interviews, maybe there will be something to this role play thing.

If it brings joy to a user then it is not a waste of time.

So if someone decided to spend 6 hours a day throwing pens at ceiling tiles for entertainment, they wouldn't be wasting time (and pens)?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying joy is valueless. I'd venture to say it is the most valuable thing there is. But that doesn't mean video games aren't primarily a waste of time compared to other joy-inducing activities. They provide no real world dividends to anyone other than astute game developers. And, in my opinion, any activity that doesn't improve your real world situation is a waste of time, no matter how fun it may be.

Tons of them
Every mmorpg requires you to learn some math and teaches you management and a whole host of other things.
There is a lot of stuff you learn from video games if you don't play braindead console or mobile games but actual good old fashioned PC games.

You learn more about managing people and resources in an MMO than IRL? I've had leadership in gaming clans before and had to manage people IRL. The two are not even in the same realm. The one exception to this perhaps being Eve Online. Nevertheless, even that pays significantly fewer dividends when done in cyberspace rather than in the real world.
 
Downloaded the game and it crashes on every death on an iPod Touch 5th gen iOS 7, for 50,000 a day you would have thought .Gears would have fixed it...
 
$50k per day is amazing. I've gotten the bird to like the 7th gate. But my kid has gotten to 31 before. I didn't notice that it had ad's. Guess all that advertising is subliminal.
 
Candy Crush Saga $850k per day = $312mill a year... that is beyond a joke.... then flappy birds $50k a day = $18mill a year... jesus man this is crazy!!!

Ok I am starting to think I need to make some mobile games with ads on them to earn crazy cash specially as $850k a day is amazingly good even $50k a day is amazing, if I was earning $100 a day from my game I would be happy but $850k a day grr I would be jumping around the house shouting OMG 24/7 until I get $10mill in my bank lol
 
Well remember guys, theres alot of kids out there with devices like iPods or iPhones or just something along those lines that want a game like that. In truth when we were all younger and only had consoles or computers (Talking like 70s/80s/90s) games like these were our pinnacle for the times and there was an overblown market of them hence why many think they were just unpopular. In recent times, the game base has changed so significantly that games that are considered more simplistic and fun like these to kids are at a very low level meaning that if the right visuals and gameplay choices are made games like these are going to sell like crazy. Angry Birds is no different in that area and just had the whole "Right time, right place, right visuals" to appeal to a huge majority of casual gamers.

The fact this guy makes that much off ad's in general is very impressive even if it was just that much a month I would be shocked.

However, with his phrasing of "I took hints from popular games like Mario" and such I can safely call that an understatement. Taking creative points is one thing but that seriously looks like an exact copy of Mario from the NES and SNES days in terms of backgrounds and colors. I would not be surprised if he just pulled some of those textures from the game and imported them in. I really wish more originality went into some of these games that have this level of popularity instead of just copy and pasting an old style game with old style visuals for a mobile device. Maybe he did draw all that himself, but its pretty clear he was looking at those games while making this because the visuals are to much of a match.
 
Downloaded the game and it crashes on every death on an iPod Touch 5th gen iOS 7, for 50,000 a day you would have thought .Gears would have fixed it...
Happened to me in same ipod iOS 6 at first every time at death, then magically fixed itself (noteably, the same time ads started appearing) odd...

Its no better or worse than any other waiting-for-something games I have on my ipod. definately nothing that should earn the creator 50k a day. guy is laughing all the way to the bank.
 
ANY activity that does not help you become a happy Alpha male can be considered a waste of time. Women, breeding partners, generally do not like betas. MMORPG, DOTA, and such timesinks will bring you future misery.
 
I hate the sheep culture we live in today. The guy lucked out tremendously - there is no formula or anything to do by, you just create something and hope that it goes viral.
 
Well, then. If they make every console and PC game available for free, but with ads, maybe that would "save" PC gaming.
 
His real inspiration is the Flash game 'helicopter' which was made in 2005 with exactly the same mechanics. Search it up on Google. It's more fun but simply predates smart phones.
 
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