Flappy Bird Developer Pulls Game Over Privacy Concerns – Is he the next Salinger?
About once a year, a game goes so viral, that everyone downloads it. First there was Angry Birds, then Words with Friends, and DrawSomething, and Candy Crush. Usually these games grow so popular that the developer tries to milk their success. Zynga went public after Words. DrawSomething sold themselves to Zynga. Candy Crush made millions of dollars in in-app purchases.
Flappy Bird’s creator, Dong Nguyen, is doing none of those things. He’s removing his game from the app store, to prevent downloads. He’s turning away from his $50,000 a day business, because he wants his privacy.
I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
The Next JD Salinger?
Nguyen went on to write “‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it”, and “Press people are overrating the success of my games. It is something I never want. Please give me peace”. Those comments are strangely similar to those made by JD Salinger, an author who – after writing one of the most popular novels on the planet – became a recluse. He would go on to regret for the rest of his life writing that book which gave him fame.
Saldinger died just a few years ago, but he gave his last interview in the ’70s, unintentionally I might add. In it, he commented “There is a marvellous peace in not publishing. It’s peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure”. Does that hold true for apps as well?
