Bear in mind Flappy Bird? You already know, that cell recreation that turned an in a single day sensation for its simple-yet-frustrating setup, and disappeared virtually as shortly? I used to be by no means a fan, however I discovered myself fascinated by the unique creator’s obvious lack of concern over a probably profitable recreation. Flappy Bird is again—however it’s not the identical.
Final week a trailer for Flappy Bird was posted to YouTube by “The Flappy Bird Basis.” The one-minute video is chock full of ridiculously epic orchestral music over information footage and web video overlaying the preliminary sensation, and the stunning determination by solo developer Dong Nguyen to de-list the profitable recreation from cell app shops.
The unique recreation is being rebooted and re-released, full with all the trimmings of a slickly produced cell recreation a decade after the 2013 authentic. There will probably be a number of ranges. There will probably be cosmetics. There will probably be a Mario-style overworld.
Although it wasn’t indicated in the trailer, there’ll virtually definitely be in-app purchases. The newly revamped recreation is billed as “AN EPIC ADVENTURE,” and it’s not clear whether or not that’s ironic or solely honest in describing a title with a single one-tap recreation mechanic.
In case it wasn’t apparent, the brand new Flappy Bird isn’t coming from the unique developer. However how and why that occurred is a longer story.
Nguyen famously ended his work on Flappy Bird in February of 2014 after its sudden breakout success, regardless of estimates of his cell advert income totaling $50,000 US on daily basis. The sport reportedly took solely three days to create—its “faucet to make the fowl flap” idea virtually actually couldn’t be easier. So clones of the sport had been already rampant, however Flappy Bird imitations and forgeries turned widespread throughout the web and cell shops virtually instantly.
Nguyen posted to Twitter concerning the cancellation, writing “I can’t take this anymore.” He later informed Forbes that he was involved about creating addictive habits in Flappy Bird‘s gamers, with the easy answer being to easily take the sport down. In August of 2014, Nguyen launched a new recreation, Flappy Birds Household, on the Amazon Appstore for Amazon’s Hearth tablets and Hearth TV applications. Its concentrate on multiplayer and TV experiences appeared to deal with Nguyen’s considerations on cell recreation habit.
However Flappy Bird shortly fell out of the general public eye after Nguyen eliminated the unique recreation, regardless of turning into such a phenomenon that it impressed a Google Doodle and even an easter egg included on millions of Android phones. He appears to have deserted each the sport and its excessive profile on social media, preferring to remain comparatively quiet and luxuriate in his work as an indie recreation developer. It’s a must to admire somebody who can ignore the siren music of flash-in-the-pan fame, to not point out the fortune he may have made by leaning into it.
Nguyen’s documented work on the unique recreation grants him an automated copyright on Flappy Bird in the US and plenty of different international locations. However he apparently cared so little for Flappy Bird that he by no means took steps to formalize or defend it.
In January of this yr, a firm named Gametech Holdings efficiently filed to label the unique copyright as deserted and take over possession. Searching through the USPTO database, it seems that the New York-based legal professional employed by Gametech specializes in discovering deserted however probably profitable copyrights.
Dong Nguyen was apparently alerted of this motion in November 2023, however by no means responded. Nguyen is a resident of Vietnam, so it’s doable that in the ten years for the reason that authentic recreation was taken down, he moved or was in any other case unable to reply the data despatched to his public handle or cellphone quantity. However given his obvious lack of concern for taking advantage of his creation, I’m inclined to suppose he merely didn’t care.
Gametech handed alongside the trademark to “The Flappy Bird Basis,” which can or is probably not the identical folks. (I genuinely don’t know what the connection is—Gametech might need deliberate a huge re-release all alongside, or just grabbed a priceless trademark and flipped it instantly.) Whoever they’re, they seem to have spent 2024 ramping up for an “epic” reboot. The brand new recreation has a dedicated website describing its new recreation modes and characters.
It’s precisely the kind of flashy, attention-grabbing exploitation of IP that Nguyen by no means did. Nevertheless it additionally consists of one thing a little extra regarding: a direct hyperlink to a Telegram handle.
Telegram is an nameless messaging service that has practically a billion customers. However its easy accessibility to techniques that may obfuscate cellphone numbers and identities makes it a well-liked alternative for criminals and scammers, together with these utilizing automated bots. Telegram was not too long ago in headlines as its CEO was arrested in France, on fees that embody being an adjunct to drug trafficking and the distribution of little one pornography.
So, yeah, a high-profile recreation launch with its solely level of contact being a Telegram account is… uncommon. However as journalists and common web customers dig into the promotional materials, further unusual connections have been found. Security researcher Varun Biniwale discovered extra pages on the positioning that aren’t instantly accessible from the touchdown web page, together with one that claims the sport will “fly increased than ever on Solana because it soars into Web 3.0.”
A portion of the brand new Flappy Bird promotional web site that isn’t accessible through the primary web page.
A portion of the brand new Flappy Bird promotional web site that isn’t accessible through the primary web page.
A portion of the brand new Flappy Bird promotional web site that isn’t accessible through the primary web page.
If something about crypto, there are alarm bells blaring in your head proper now. Solana is a blockchain platform used to create cryptocurrencies. “Web 3.0” is a buzzword encompassing crypto and NFT tech utilized to traditional web sites and companies. There’s a lot to unpack right here, however suffice it to say, there have been a number of makes an attempt to mix cryptocurrency and NFTs with video video games.
At finest they’ve been unimpressive flops. Extra typically, they’re apparent “rug pulls” designed to make a fast buck. At worst, they’ve devastated the economies of already-struggling communities in developing countries—and no, that’s not an exaggeration.
Perusing by extra pages in the WordPress-based FlappyBird.org website, Biniwale was capable of finding much more information, together with a playable web-based prototype of the sport itself. He was even capable of finding the cloud-based XML information that the video games are based mostly on. And poking round in that code, he discovered the crypto hook.
Taking part in these variations of the sport (which, once more, usually are not publicly offered despite the fact that they’re accessible with a little digging) prompts customers to attach Flappy Bird to numerous cryptocurrency wallets. Taking part in the sport seems to generate crypto cash, which presumably could be bought and traded. The infrastructure for the precise cryptocurrency element doesn’t seem like stay, or at the very least it’s not operational but.
Belongings Biniwale uncovered from the web recreation present integration with cryptocurrency wallets.
Belongings Biniwale uncovered from the web recreation present integration with cryptocurrency wallets.
Belongings Biniwale uncovered from the web recreation present integration with cryptocurrency wallets.
The rabbit gap goes deeper. Biniwale discovered an API for the sport in the code, and following that lead found a leaderboard, presumably populated by individuals who’ve been taking part in the sport in a pre-release state. The leaderboard is stuffed with names that reference cryptocurrency, and plenty of of them match “crypto influencers,” social media customers who unfold info on new cryptocurrencies.
Many crypto influencers have been accused, and generally convicted, of manipulating social media to “pump and dump” unregulated cryptocurrency and NFTs to reap huge monetary beneficial properties. The names and handles Binwale discovered usually are not essentially the folks linked to these names. One of them is “Matthew Perry,” and it appears virtually unattainable that the late Associates actor is concerned.
However a number of of the related accounts observe the “official” Flappy Bird Twitter (X) account. The best rating on the uncovered leaderboard is known as “Deez Nuts.” Whereas it’s doable that that is a coincidence — it’s a joke and a meme, in any case — “Deez” is a time period related to many NFT collections. Two such collections are related to a firm that has closely promoted the brand new incarnation of Flappy Bird.
Since Bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies successfully turned principally unregulated securities for holding and rising wealth quickly, the crypto area has been stuffed with innumerable makes an attempt to make “the following huge factor” and a fast fortune. An affiliation with cryptocurrency doesn’t mechanically imply a challenge is suspicious. Nevertheless it’s inarguable that the unregulated nature of crypto and NFTs has made it a magnet for scams, heightened by the utility of unregulated cryptocurrency as a means of hiding wealth or illicit exercise.
Even amongst those that nonetheless consider cryptocurrency is the long run of economics, each new “coin” or NFT challenge now arrives with the specter of a potential rug pull hanging over it. A rug pull is a method whereby the overwhelming majority of a cryptocurrency or NFT — managed by the preliminary creators and their companions — is shortly transformed into typical forex or different crypto. This leaves the preliminary traders exterior of the controlling group with nugatory crypto property, their actual cash having vanished into the scheme.
Hypothetically, a nice method to get a ton of curiosity in a new cryptocurrency or NFT could be to affiliate it with a smash-hit cell recreation. If that recreation had been kind of forgotten a decade later, and it had been doable to legally purchase the trademark and launch a reputable reboot of the sport, it will be an virtually ultimate vector for turning informal players into contributors in an NFT or crypto system. And the excessive profile would inevitably appeal to the curiosity of the bigger on-line crypto area, probably spurring a big quantity of preliminary funding.
Once more, that is all hypothetical, based mostly on well-known rug pulls which have turn out to be a routine half of the crypto world. None of it’s, in any manner, an accusation in direction of any particular person or group. Considerations over rug pulls and different scams have forged a shadow over just about any new cryptocurrency or NFT challenge for years, making it troublesome for even reputable companies to enter the area with out big skepticism surrounding the choice.
The Flappy Bird Basis says the brand new recreation will probably be out there on the web in October and on app shops in 2025. Aftermath reports that authentic Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen tweeted for the primary time in seven years final weekend. “No, I’ve no associated [sic] with their recreation,” he says. “I did not sell anything. I additionally don’t assist crypto.”
