Casual mobile hit Flappy Bird returns to stores under odd circumstances

Eleven years ago, the mobile gaming world briefly became consumed by Flappy Bird, a mobile title that was simplistic as it was addictive. The game, which was only as mechanically dense as tapping a screen to time jumps between pipes, was driven by an advertising model that showed ads between common deaths.

With the game’s virality and free download model, it was making $50,000 a day for developer Dong Nguyen from Vietnam until Nguyen abruptly ceased sales on the title in 2014. Nguyen cited guilt over the game’s addictive nature and feared physical violence aimed at himself and his family over perceived faults with the game. With the discontinuation, Nguyen said he had no intention of ever selling the license to the game and more or less disappeared from the internet.