Flappy Bird fans upset the game has been pulled from the App Store by its developer should not blame Nintendo for the removal, despite similarities to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. game. Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the game maker had not complained about the title.

In an email to The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa on Monday reiterated previous company statements that the Japanese videogame giant hasn’t complained at all about Flappy Bird's similarities to Nintendo’s original "Super Mario Bros."

"While we usually do not comment on the rumors and speculations, we have already denied the speculation" last week, he [Yasuhiro Minagawa] said.

flappy-bird
Reports suggest Nguyen could face a copyright lawsuit and other legal issues in his home country of Vietnam, but the developer has denied those claims. He instead expressed frustration at the attention his game has brought him, pleading on Twitter for the media to "Please give me peace."

Flappy Bird no longer appears in the App Store and is only available to those who downloaded the app before it was removed. Nguyen said he is not interested in selling the game, so it won't return unless he changes his mind. Before it was removed, Flappy Bird was generating $50,000 a day in ad revenue and had been downloaded over 50 million times, according to The Verge.

Top Rated Comments

nepalisherpa Avatar
143 months ago
I'm tired of hearing about Flappy Bird!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TwinCities Dan Avatar
143 months ago
Ever think maybe MacRumors and their constant coverage and attention to this non-story may have some responsibility in this whole nonsense? Me too.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
futbalguy Avatar
143 months ago
I am normally a pretty compassionate person, but I almost feel like organizing a campaign to continually spam this guy's social media accounts.

How many people are working their butts off trying to enjoy some level of success financially and this guy pisses it away because it interrupts his quiet life.

And the reality is that he fumbled into success. It was not his programming genius that caused this game to succeed. It was its difficulty on top of simplistic graphics and game play coupled with some social media viral bizarreness.

He's as bad as the movie stars that complain about paparazzi.

I know my insensitivity will anger some, but I did say that I "almost' feel like doing something.

----------


I think you have some issues. Who cares what somebody else does with their money? Lots of people get a little lucky on their way to success. Lots of people make millions of dollars a year. Lots of people stop working when they are making millions. Money is just a resource. Not to mention, there are downsides to money. Have you seen how a lot of rich famous people end up so ****ed up? You think that is a coincidence? We don't have any idea about his personal life or what is going on with him. We shouldnt need to know. Its his choice what to do with his app.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ck2875 Avatar
143 months ago
Can we get a 'Flappy Bird Blog' tab up at the top if these articles are going to be a regular thing?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0098386 Avatar
143 months ago
I am normally a pretty compassionate person, but I almost feel like organizing a campaign to continually spam this guy's social media accounts.

I don't think so :).
The guy's clearly an introvert and just wants to make games without fame. Not everyone is after lots of money and fame. He probably made enough to live a comfortable life for a few years and to have the financial freedom to make whatever he wanted, it's what I'd do.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
futbalguy Avatar
143 months ago
More like Flappy Mouth with this guy... I thought the best way to avoid the spotlight is to get out of it... not keep on talking and stepping back into it.
As far as I know hes only released like 4 tweets and its been a couple of days since his last. He has hardly done anything to stir up the attention. He simply announced he was taking a game down, gave people a day to download it, and then did as he said.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
truecaller

Truecaller iOS Update Rolls Out Real-Time Caller ID Support

Wednesday January 22, 2025 2:07 am PST by
Popular caller ID app Truecaller is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers. Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely retrieve information about a caller from their servers, hence today's Truecaller update. iPhone users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature by going to Settings ➝ ...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
ipad pro 2024

New iPad Pro Reportedly Launching This Year

Tuesday January 21, 2025 6:40 am PST by
Apple plans to release at least one new iPad Pro model this year, according to a supplier-focused report today from Korean website The Elec. It is likely that the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models would be updated simultaneously. After receiving an OLED display last year, the report said the iPad Pro will receive only "minor" changes this year. Overall, the next iPad Pro is expected to...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...