The original Flappy Bird game is making a comeback. Creator Dong Nguyen told CNBC that an updated version be back online in August this year, featuring an all-new a multi-player component and less addictive gameplay.
If you need a refresher, Flappy Bird is an overly simple mobile game that somehow manages to be extremely difficult and frustrating at the same time. The game blasted off to the top of the app store charts earlier this year and was subsequently pulled by its creator, as he couldn't take the stress of having one of the top games in the world.
At its peak, Flappy Bird was raking in approximately $50,000 a day in revenue from in-app ads. In spite of that, Nguyen went ahead with his decision to pull the game he created in just 3 days, saying that it had "ruined his simple life".
Shortly after the game was removed, numerous knock-offs swarmed the app stores, given the simplicity of its code and concept. By February's end, over 60 Flappy Bird clones were hitting Apple's App Store each day.
The Vietnamese game developer revealed during an interview with Rolling Stones that what motivated his move was messages and emails he received as feedback. He was heartbroken to learn that a mother stopped talking to her kids, people lost their jobs, kids broke their phones, and more.
He also mentioned then that the game could make a comeback, adding that future versions might come with a warning - "Please take a break". Nguyen was also working on other games at the time, including one that revolves around a character that jumps from building to building.