For the past few days, the mobile gaming community had been up in arms over the wildly popular game, Flappy Bird, being pulled from the Apple and Android stores. Rumors of its demise ran rampant since the game’s developer Dong Nguyen refused to speak to the media regarding his decision to pull the #1 game which has been downloaded over 10 million times.
Well, the Vietnam-based developer has decided to end his silence and spoken out for the first time since pulling the game. In an interview with Forbes, he said the decision came because the game was so addictive that it “had become a problem.”
The Forbes report suggests Dong felt guilt because so many people had become addicted to the game, though his other games will remain available because they are “harmless.” Dong said his stress was so severe that he found himself unable to sleep — his anguish has certainly been visible in his recent tweets.
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
In the rest of the interview, Dong denied that legal issues had forced the game offline. He pledged to release new apps in the future and said he actually likes some of the Flappy Bird clones that have tried to capitalize on his decision to pull the game.
