It appears that Flappy Bird's ride atop the app store charts will be short-lived. The game's developer, Dong Nguyen, tweeted today that he will pull his popular game from Google Play and the App Store on Sunday.
?wmode=transparent"I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore," Nguyen tweeted at 2 p.m. ET this afternoon.
If true, that means Flappy Bird will be no more by noon ET Sunday. It's not clear if those who have already downloaded the app will still be able to play.
Flappy Bird was released last year, but it really picked up steam last month, and is currently the No. 1 free app on the Apple and Google app stores. The premise is easy enough - tap your phone's screen to flap your bird's wings and navigate it through the air while avoiding Super Mario-like pipes along your route. But execution is another thing; it's maddeningly difficult.
Despite the similarities to Nintendo's popular Mario franchise, Nguyen said his decision to pull Flappy Bird is "not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore." He also denied having sold the game to anyone.
In the meantime, another one of Nguyen's games, Super Ball Juggling, is No. 5 on the App Store charts, while Shuriken Block is at No. 25. Flappy Bird appears to be the only game he has on Google Play, under .GEARS Studio. In his most recent tweet, Nguyen insisted that "I still make games."
Is it true, or is Nguyen trying to drum up even more downloads? Check back tomorrow, but in the meantime, see 7 Tips for High Scores on Flappy Bird.
For more, check out PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses the Flappy Bird controversy.
UPDATE: As of Sunday afternoon, Flappy Bird is no longer available in the App Store or on Google Play. Those who already have it installed, however, can still play at the moment. Nguyen has not updated Twitter since yesterday.